One of the social maladies, if not the worse,
bedeviling Nigeria of present socio-political dispensation is lack of sound
general census (population and industrial) and national planning. This
is compounded by lack of visionary political leadership and statesmanship. To the extent that on mere mentioning or
appearance of a president of a country on international scenes; its national
currency instantly loses value in money market; speaks of the enormity of
the disaster of having a tinkerer as president; as opposed to other social
climes where emergence of a visionary, thinker and statesman as president
instantly leads to valuation of its national currency in money market and
positive recoveries in its economy. In other words, Nigeria under the present
civilian administration of Gen Muhammadu Buhari fundamentally lacks vision,
statesmanship and sound national planning built on scientific and statistically
grounded population and industrial census.
Modern Census is divided into
three categories of general census, population census and industrial
(economic) census. Combination of population census and
industrial or economic census is called general census.
Population census gives country sound information with respect to age-brackets
(infancy, children, adolescence, youth, adult and aging populations). It also
provides analytical and grounded statistics as it concerns gender population
(males and females), working population, student population and non-working
population or unemployed. From population census, the number of private and
public institutions’ working populations are credibly ascertained; likewise
membership of ethnic groups and religious bodies. The number of Nigerians
living in Diaspora is also credibly ascertained using sound population census.
Also soundly ascertained is the number of population or people
occupying each square kilometer of landmass both in densely and sparsely
populated areas of Nigeria. Creation and allocation of geographical and
geopolitical entities like States, Local Government Areas, Senatorial
Districts, Federal and State Constituencies as well as allocation of public
human and material resources can only be appropriately and popularly allocated
using sound population census.
In industrial or economic census, it
is statistically done to ascertain the number of existing or functioning business
enterprises, social enterprises (i.e. churches, mosques, foundations, etc),
commercial buildings, commercial and private vehicular (lorries, mini lorries,
cars, tricycles, motorcycles, etc), government agencies, and small,
medium and large scale industries. It also covers railway, maritime and
aviation sectors. The number of functional and non functional public and
private health and educational facilities as well as functional and non
functional public, multinational and private commercial companies and nonprofit
organizations are credibly captured through industrial
or economic census. It also importantly and appropriately guides export
and import trade policies of the government. Through industrial census,
PPP-engineered industrial policies of the government including
industrial revolution; location, concentration or de-centralization of
industries are aggressively pursued. Credible and sound industrial census also
attracts huge direct foreign investments and remittances from
enterprising Nigerians living in Diaspora and moves the country away from
subsistent to mechanized industrialization and its policies. Till date,
Nigeria’s 33 solid mineral deposits have remained substantially, if not totally
subsistent and un-mechanized.
Through population and industrial census, public
resources and development projects are appropriately allocated based on
geopolitical and geographical population density and environmental
considerations. Also through this, public wealth and debt per capita as well as
population birth and death rates, among others are credibly ascertained. Population
and industrial census is roundly important and serves as the
fundamental foundation of economic, political (including securitization,
electoral and criminal justice), environmental and cultural policies of the
government. The national planning and budgeting can only become ambitious and
revolutionary if sound population and industrial census is put in
place and be demographically updated as appropriate. The importance of timely
and credibly conducted population and industrial census for
Nigeria of present challenging time is the first among equal.
Sound population and industrial census is also a fundamental foundation for
transparency and accountability of the Government and a starting point of anti corruption
policy of the same Government.
Further, sound population
and industrial census scientifically gives birth to creative,
industrial and competitive communities. A country with sound and modern
population and industrial census moves away from population and society;
founded on primordialism and destructive social ideology to that founded on industrial
creativity and competition. The United States, for instance, is one of
the world’s most ethnicized countries; yet its population has
successfully been transformed into industrially creative and competitive
generation. There are hundreds of thousands of industrial communities in the
USA today. An example of industrial or creative community in
Nigeria is Nigeria’s Movie Industry. The World Wrestling Entertainment
(WWE) and the American Basket Ball Association (NBA) are two main
examples of creative or industrial communities
in the United States.
A creative or industrial community is that
capable of producing forefathers and incapable of discriminating on the ground
of sex, ethnic origin or place of birth or religious affiliation. For instance,
there are many forefathers and non Americans in the US Wrestling Industrial
Community (WWE). Creative and industrial community is also capable of
earning national respect and protection as well as contributing to the
individual and collective wealth of its mother country. A brain creatively kept
busy finds no time for primordialist and other socially incoherent conducts. A
creative brain is a researcher who is busy bringing new things and ideas into
life. This is the secret behind the exploits of the United States to the extent
that its military thinkers few years back invented world’s fastest
military aircraft that flies 2.7km per second.
It therefore saddens our heart that Nigerian
territory had been operated without a sound general census for
the past 63 years or since 1952/3. We are not aware, too, till date of
any industrial census (whether sound or unsound) ever conducted in
Nigeria till date. What can be called a population census figure was
that of 1952/3 conducted by then British colonial authorities. Another attempt
at conducting population census in Nigeria was that done in 1991 during the
inglorious military regime of Gen Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, which put
the total population figure at 88.5million. The 2006 population census
organized by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which gave Nigerian population
size as “140 million”, was far from being credible. Apart from systematic
exclusion of millions of Nigerians during the census, particularly the people
of the rain forest and oil delta regions; there were credible reports of post
census sectional manipulations by sectional and central powers that be; whereby
figures of self acclaimed born-to-rule States or regions
were rapaciously inflated.
Shockingly, it is only in Nigeria that population
of dry lands or semi desert are chronically greater than those of the rain
forest. In all, the current population size of Nigeria being put at
estimate of 170million-174million is totally unscientific, speculative and
unreliable. There must be domestically organized general census to
statistically ascertain how many Nigerians are leaving in the country, how many
that leave outside Nigeria and how many leaving in the country as lawful and
unlawful immigrants. On these the National Panning, political and economic
policies of the Government must be laid.
Absence of sound industrial census in
Nigeria is another shocking and provocative dimension to the country’s
demographic roguery. This is why trade and investment policies of Gen Muhammadu
Buhari’s civilian administration are in disarray with no iota of hope for
Nigerian citizens in 2016. What is called 2016 Federal Budget Proposal
lying before the National Assembly is nothing but “loan-based recurrent
expenditure authorization document; waiting for certification before
mastication”. A truly public oriented budget or budget proposal is that
containing over 60% capital expenditures with 95% or more of its funding
sources derived from non borrowing or loan sources. But a critical look at Gen
Muhammadu Buhari’s budget proposal clearly indicates that it is a budget
of neo-colonialism (filled with loans or borrowings) and legitimized
profligacy. It is therefore not surprising seeing his new lenders
including USA “applauding his anti corruption drive”, in spite of the fact that
a whopping sum of N795 Million ($4Million) is set aside in the controversial
budget document to upgrade website of the State House alone. This is a
compound fraud! Fraudulent recurrent expenditure provisions
contained in Gen Buhari’s 2016 budget document are incontestably graver than
the so called $2.1Billion arms deal scandal.
It further shocks us as to rationale behind the
unceremonious cancellation of the “2016 census exercise” by the Nigerian
Population Commission and its National Planning counterpart. The NPC had last
month announced, on presidential directive, the canellation of 2016 general
census and claimed that it had shifted it to 2017. This is not only against the
Federal Government policy of conducting general census in Nigeria in every ten
years; but also contrary to the United Nations guidelines for “national census
of member-States to be held in every five-ten years”. Till date, no federal
authority in Nigeria including the National Planning and the Nigerian
Population Census authorities can boast of sound data as per the country’s population
and industrial census figures. The number of illegal immigrants in the
country is also publicly unknown till date.
In the United States, for instance, as at 2013,
apart from its scientifically established population of 313 million, there were
also 11 million illegal immigrants leaving in the country. But in Nigeria, its
population had been managed using speculative, unscientific,
unverifiable and unreliable figures for decades. Every aspect of Nigeria’s demographic
democracy is roguishly and chronically manipulative. One of the
realities of these age-long demographic manipulation and suppressive policies in
the country was the 2015 general elections where to the shocking of all
Nigerians, millions of underage children, as young as nine years were
registered as voters, issued permanent voters cards and allowed to vote in the
core northern States; so as to shore up the northern population and maintain
the age-long phantom northern population superiority over the southern part or
rain forest region of Nigeria.
Possibility was also very high that during the
election under reference, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants
particularly from Niger and Chad Republics were allowed access into Nigeria and
“Nigerianized” to vote in the said controversial poll. The 2016, by convention
and law, ought to be Nigeria’s year of general census; but this
has deliberately been stepped down by the administration of Gen Muhammadu
Buhari in preference of retention of age-long status quo of demographic
violence or suppressive policy.
We condemn unreservedly the unceremonious
cancellation of the 2016 General Census by the civilian government of Gen
Muhammadu Buhari. We strongly believe that Nigerians are tired of being sized
and measured speculatively using international figures plotted and graphed by
international demographic theorists. Nigerians should rise with one voice and
insist on conduct of general census, which must include population and
industrial counting. It is the right of every ethnic nationality,
religious body, male, female, child, infant, adolescent, youth, adult and
elderly in Nigeria to be put in the know of their population size and be
updated statistically on same in every five or ten years. It is also the right
of every Nigerian not to be kept in the dark with respect to conduct of sound industrial
or economic census in the country; which is a driving engine of
industrial policies or directions of both the Government and the private
sector.
Signed:
Emeka
Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law
Mobile
Phone: +2348174090052
Website:
www.intersociety-ng.org
Obianuju
Joy Igboeli, Esq., Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Uzochukwu
Oguejiofor-Nwonu, Esq., Head, Campaign & Publicity Department
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