The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved about 2.8 billion Naira for the procurement of software for the National Population Commission for the conduct of the National Census which has now been shifted to May 2023.
Lai Mohammed who is the Minister of Information and Culture made this disclosure on Wednesday noting that the 2023 population and housing census earlier scheduled for March 29 has been shifted to May 2023.
According to the minister, the decision to shift the census was necessitated by the postponement of the gubernatorial and state assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from 11 March to 18 March.
He also disclosed that the council approved N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission (NPC) to procure some software to be used for the conduct of the census.
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‘There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking some software to allow them to conduct the census in May this year.
‘I believe because of the rescheduling of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled.
‘They sought council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion,’ he said.
He went on to explain that the decision was necessitated by the rescheduling of the governorship elections from March 11 to March 18.
FEC has also approved the Nigeria Agenda 2050, a plan aimed at increasing real GDP growth by seven percent, creating 165 million naira in new jobs, and reducing the number of people living in poverty to 2.1 million in 2050.
This is coming about 29 months after President Buhari inaugurated the National Steering Committee for the preparation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021 to 2025 and Nigeria Agenda 2050.
The overall objective is to take Nigeria through to an Upper Middle-Income Country and subsequently to the status of a High-Income country by 2050.
Africa Today News, New York reports that