Are we up to 170 Million or not, we will know 2016 census

NIGERIA’S current estimated 160 million people make her the seventh most populous country on earth.  A 2006 census had put its population at 140 million. Three years from now, specifically in 2016, it will conduct another headcount.  But controversy has smeared every step in this direction since 1953: it is either some ethnic nationalities reject the figures on account of alleged manipulation, or the government cancels them.

The Chairman, National Population Commission, Festus Odimegwu, who is aware of these dismaying antecedents, has, therefore, vowed to break the jinx. While addressing journalists on the commission’s preparations for the 2016 exercise recently, he said, “No census has been credible in Nigeria since 1816. Even the one conducted in 2006 is not credible. I have the records and evidence produced by scholars and professors of repute.” While his zest is heart-warming, what is needed more now is action, not rhetoric.