The National Population Commission has estimated that the population of the country has hit 190 million.
The Director-General of the commission, Dr Ghaji Ismail, who spoke at a press conference tagged ‘25 Years of ICPD: Accelerating the Promise,’ on Tuesday, said it was imperative to conduct another census as soon as possible.
Ismail said, “Based on data available to us, the present population is about 190 million. About three months ago, UNFPA brought out a figure of 201 million. The UN figure is a function of the assumptions they have made.
You have to use models to arrive at the figures you are projecting. The margin of error is very small. It is more imperative that the government should undertake another census.
“It strengthens our case that we should have undertaken another census; the last one was in 2006 and we should have had another in 2016 in line with the 10-year global requirement.”
The NPC DG explained that the urgency of a national census had positive implications for national security. He added, “For the last three to four years, we have been preparing and there is a process which gives us a lot of hope that this will soon be addressed.”