Makama: How We Arrived at 2006 Census Figures
•'It's a true reflection of Nigeria's population'
by Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja, 01.14.2007
The National Population Commission (NPC) Chairman, Alhaji Sa-mu'ila Danko Makama, has defended the recently released figures from the 2006 census as a true reflection of Nigeria's population.
In an exclusive interview with THISDAY at the weekend, Makama said though the Commission does not intend to join issues with critics, it wants to state that there is enough basis to support the census results which for the first time was scientifically aided.
He asked those agitated by the results not to engage in idle speculation but should rather wait until the commission makes public the entire details of the exercise before making their criticism.
There have been mixed reactions to the provisional result of the 2006 national population and housing census with aggrieved groups disputing the results, alleging that the figures may have been manipulated.
But according to Makama, contrary to opinions being peddled that there is a general population and demographic
characterization that favours women over men in terms of their number, records of national census results in densely populated countries in Africa reveal that males are more in number than females.
"If you look at the 1999 demographic year book published by the United Nations, which gives data on population for all the countries of the world on the bases of sex, surface area and density, you find that in Africa there are about eight countries that have more males than females", he said.
He listed the countries as Angola, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia, noting that all these countries have one common feature of being heavily populated.
"I have found out that many people in our country have the impression that female population should be more than male, may be for sentimental reasons because it makes them happy. This impression is being created, but the census in our country has revealed otherwise and this is a fact", he said.
On the claims by some states that the figures recorded against them fell below the ones emanating from their own sponsored census, the Chairman said the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria empowers only NPC to conduct census in the country and no other entity is mandated by law to carry out the exercise.
"For any state to publish its own census, the implication of that is obvious, it is a constitutional breach and it is unacceptable".
He said people should note that Nigeria is a member of the international community and as such has to be very careful in arriving at its national figures because the nation contributes to the total world population figures.
"We cannot simply sit down and allocate certain figures to ourselves simply because we want to please ourselves. If we do that then we shall be distorting the world population figures of which we are a constituent part", he said.
Makama asked those who might have any reasons to dispute the figures to wait for the census tribunal to be established by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
Meanwhile, the European Union yesterday welcomed the release of the provisional census figures, saying it hoped the positive appraisal of the implementation of the census will accelerate Nigeria's continuing development.
"We are pleased to have contributed to such an important venture, in the framework of the cooperation between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the European Commission, and hope that it may accelerate Nigeria's continuing development".
Census Results Fraudulent, Says Afenifere
By Philip Ogunmade This Day Jan14, 2007
Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation has described the adoption of census results by the Council of States in Abuja last week, as an attempt to use "well-managed and manipulated demography to justify the inequities that have made calls for restructuring so strident."
The group, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin, said "by allocating 75million to northern Nigeria as against the 64 million allocated to Southern Nigeria, the exercise has only retained the deliberate effort to manipulate the geographical distribution of Nigeria's population for political ends."
The group said by the census results, which put the north's population as 53.7 per cent of the country's total population, is consistent with previous controversial censuses, recalling that in 1931, the North was given 57.2 per cent, 55.4 per cent in 1952/53, 53.5 per cent in 1963 and in 1991, 53.4 per cent.
Afenifere said "these figures are well understood when other statistics are considered. The North has 54.1 per cent of the states in Nigeria and 54.1 per cent of local governments. In the National Assembly, the North has 53 per cent of the House of Representatives seats, as well as 53.2 per cent of the seats in the Senate.
The North also draws 55.3 per cent of theFederal Allocation to local governments.
"Population distribution for Lagos and Kano states best explains this demographic manipulation. In the 1953 Census, the Lagos Division (excluding Agege, Ikeja, Epe, Ikorodu etc) had a population of 267,000, while the Kano Division, which included the present Jigawa State, had 130,000. But between 1953 and now, Lagos, which now includes, Agege, Ikeja, Ikorodu (et al) and all the mass movements into it from other states is 9million, while Kano (including Jigawa) is now over 14million. Lagos presently has 20 local governments, while Kano (including Jigawa) has 74," it said.
Odumakin also argued that there are other statistics at home which query the flawed census figures. According to him, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) result of May/June 1997 shows that the number of school leavers from Ssouthern states is about 70 per cent of the total number of school leavers in the country."