Chairman of National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, has said the country’s population figure is officially 206 million.
Kwarra broke the news yesterday while addressing reporters in Abuja on the commencement of the next Enumeration Area Demarcation.
The NPC boss noted that since Nigeria had not been able to hold a census in the last 14 years, it would be difficult to know the exact population of the country.
He said: “In the absence of actual census, we formally do projections and we have all along been doing our projections and we estimate that as of 2020, the estimated population of Nigeria is 206 million.”
Asked when the next population census will take place, Kwarra said President Muhammadu Buhari had the sole right to announce it.
The NPC boss said he was certain that the President would do the needful soon, adding that the commission was working on getting him to make the proclamation.
Two months ago, President Buhari had approved N10 billion for the NPC to continue its Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) in 540 local government areas across the country.
The President also approved additional N4.5 billion to be included in the 2021 budget for the completion of preparation for the next census.
Announcing the commencement of the EAD, Kwarra said about 260 of the 774 local government areas in the country had been fully demarcated.
The NPC boss stressed that the 11th phase of the exercise would begin on December 9, 2020 and end on January 20, 2011.
He added: “Planning for census is anchored on the EAD for estimating human and material resources required for the census. In essence, the success of a credible and accurate census depends very much on the quality and reliability of the EAD.”