Stirring the hornet’s nest on census

He said all the 15 censuses conducted in the country since 1866 were falsified; and went on to carpet especially the 2006 exercise, which he claimed was flawed. Chief Odimegwu was quoted as saying that ‘politicians bought and sold enumeration areas’ during the 2006 census, leading to the existence of ‘fake’ census data. He was […]

He said all the 15 censuses conducted in the country since 1866 were falsified; and went on to carpet especially the 2006 exercise, which he claimed was flawed. Chief Odimegwu was quoted as saying that ‘politicians bought and sold enumeration areas’ during the 2006 census, leading to the existence of ‘fake’ census data. He was also reported to have said that one section of the country had been cheating others in previous censuses.
However, 22 out of the 35 commissioners of NPC, in published advertorials, dissociated themselves from his utterances, saying that the comments were entirely his personal opinion and not that of the commission. They said: “After a careful perusal and thorough consideration of the publications and the seeming unhealthy national debate that the chairman’s alleged statements have engendered, and him not retracting or refuting same, we the undersigned commissioners wish to inform fellow Nigerians and the general public that the statements credited to the chairman of National Population Commission are his personal opinion, as the same were never raised, discussed or agreed upon at any of the commission’s meetings.”
Similarly, the immediate past chairman of NPC Chief Samu’ila Danko Makama, who administered the 2006 Population and Housing Census, has said that the commission under him could not have falsified the outcome of the 2006 census as checks and balances existed to prevent any such attempt. He said the 2006 census had the full participation of development partners from preparation stage to execution and acceptance; and that they provided the necessary checks and balances along the way, apart from offering technical and financial support.
But even at levels lower than that of the commissioners, the chairman is accused of showing bias in his handling of the commission’s affairs. One of the recent bones of contention was his appointment of three personal aides – two Special Assistants and one Personal Assistant – allegedly without recourse to the commission or approval from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
This leads to the question, then, as to who is Chief Odimegwu, and whose agenda has he come to prosecute at the NPC? This is not the way for him or anyone for that matter to actualise the fiction that a certain ‘tribe’ or ‘ethnic group’ are the ‘majority’ among Nigeria’s comity of nationalities.
People who did not travel round the nooks and crannies of this country cannot claim to know this nation’s terrains better than those who did. And people who have no enumeration expertise and experience should not impugn on the integrity of those who have. Chief Odimegwu should find out from experts and even from those youth corps (NYSC) members who actually carried out the fieldwork of the 2006 census what they saw in the communities they enumerated that year. Their confessions to accepting facts on the ground, after earlier arriving in their assigned areas with highly cynical and made-up minds, are now legion. Significantly, the real professionals and the international agencies that monitored this census have given it a clean bill of health. The truth is that the kind of stringent national and international checks that accompanied the 2006 census and the safeguards provided by the Nigeria’s constitution did ensure its credibility.
Chief Odimegwu’s actions and utterances indicate that he has not yet grasped the real remits of his commission and the enormous task ahead of him. The verdict of the key people in the commission must now serve as a guide to what should happen to him. If 22 of the 35 commissioners of the NPC pass a vote-of-no-confidence on their chairman, that is akin to impeachment. They have said it loud and clear; and we wonder, what is the President waiting for? The NPC chairmanship should not be just another ‘job for the boys’. It is too sensitive for people who show less sensitivity to national assignments as the current chairman does. The President should immediately remove him and bring in a more credible and experienced person to head the commission.