The population and housing census that was earlier scheduled for March 29 has been shifted to May by the federal government.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed made this known after the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Mohammed, the decision came as a result of the gubernatorial election that was postponed to March 18.
He also said that the council approved the sum of N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission (NPC) to procure software to be used for the conduct of the census.
The minister said “There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking some software to allow them to conduct the census in May this year. I believe because of the rescheduling of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled.”
“They sought Council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion.”