No one knows Nigeria’s real population, Deputy Speaker, Kalu laments
Tamarauemi Ebimini
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu,has lamented the absence of accurate population data to plan Nigeria. The deputy speaker charged the newly inaugurated commissioners on the Board of the National Population Commission (NPC) to ensure that the next census will give the actual statistics of Nigeria’s population.
He said that knowing the figure was essential to economic planning and the spread of infrastructure across the country. Kalu gave the charge at the inaugural dinner of the federal commissioner representing Abia State at the NPC Board, Chief Emmanuel Trump Eke, over the weekend in Abuja.
Eke was amongst the 17 appointees inaugurated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The deputy speaker said that it was not right to continue to hazard a guess about the country’s population each time the issue arises, stressing that it was time the narrative is changed for good.
Kalu was quoted in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu as saying that Nigeria “cannot keep claiming we are the giant of Africa when we don’t have an accurate statistics of our actual number as a nation”
Kalu said: “We don’t know our number. It’s embarrassing. Each time they ask you of your population, you said about…When are we going to drop this “about”, that descriptive thing to our number? You people should make it exact. When we call Ogun State, you tell us the number. We call Abia, you tell us. Total number in the South East, you give us. Total in the South West, North West, South South, etc, you give us so that we can plan because economic planning without actual knowledge of the population is a waste of time because you might plan for a few and the infrastructure will be overused by the much you did not capture.”
Kalu also commended President Tinubu for running an all-inclusive government, appointing the Igbo in coveted positions of authority despite receiving poor number of votes from the region in the last presidential election. He expressed gratitude to the Igbo for not participating in the recent protest against the present administration over economic hardship.
The Deputy Speaker who stated that the hardship was not principally created by the Tinubu’s government revealed that the administration is finding lasting solutions to the problems, especially in amid the removal of fuel subsidy which he said gave only the prosperity of the “white washed sepulchre.”
Kalu stressed that the support will also encourage the President to assent to the South East Development Commission bill sponsored by him for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the region, adding that the President and his team are intentional about giving the South East a sense of belonging.
“This President has shown us love despite the fact that we did not vote as we ought to have voted. He has shown us great love and it’s about time we also started reciprocating the way we support the government in words and in action.
