The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said population census will enhance proper economic planning and overall development of the state.
The governor stated this on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ summit on the 2023 population and housing census organised by the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations in collaboration with the National Population Commission, Lagos State, held in Alausa, Ikeja.
Sanwo-Olu said, “This exercise is extremely important because apart from the population figure, the census will also provide us with vital data and statistics in many other areas that will enable us to plan better and deliver more effective infrastructure and social services to the people of Lagos State.
“The last Nigerian census was conducted in 2006 and the result of that exercise indicated that the population of Lagos State was 9,013,534, which was then reviewed upward to 12,772,884 in 2019.
“Although Lagos State has always contested these figures – we have always been clear that they do not reflect the actual population of the state – it has remained the official population figure upon which national planning decisions and some resource allocation decisions are based. Now we have in front of us another opportunity to get it right.”
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of the NPC, Nasir Kwarra, advised residents to remain in the state during the exercise.
“In the 2023 population census, we are bringing in the digital census that will collect data and will be useful for the economy and state planning, and I want to advise Lagosians to stay in Lagos during the exercise to be counted and we don’t want anyone to be left behind,” he said.
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr Mobolaji Ogunlende, said, “At the last general census in our country held in 2006, the figures generated in Lagos were fraught with irregularities and controversies, fortunately, 2023 presents us with an opportunity to right this.”
