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Nigeria is planning a national census 19 years after the last one

Feb 26, 2025

Good morning, Big Brains. Yesterday was Citizen Townhall day, and we’re glad some of you could join us. If you missed it, you’d probably judge yourself when you get to the part of this edition that talks about a plan to reelect you-know-who in 2027. But if you’re still interested in creating political change, we have something for you tomorrow.

- Margaret

Word count: ~ 1, 000
Reading time ~ 5 mins

Let’s get into today’s edition:

Nigeria is planning a national census 19 years after the last one
Senator wants Tinubu to honour Abiola, but the agenda isn’t agending

The Big Deal

Nigeria is planning a national census 19 years after the last one

We love how seriously Nigerians take the “Nigerian time” concept, even when it comes to important activities like a national census. After nearly two decades of guessing Nigeria’s total population, the Tinubu-led administration is finally ready to organise another census with a “renewed” twist.

On Monday, February 24, the president announced that he’s already setting up a committee to draw up a realistic budget for the census, which will be completely different from the 2006 census. Tinubu (or T-pain if you’re nasty) has always been one to figure out a fancier way of doing things, so this time, we’re keeping the census strictly digital. And because no one does a “go big or go home” moment quite like this administration, biometric capturing will be the primary method of this process.

If you’re wondering why it took us so long to reach this point, the simple answer is money. But they’ve already stocked up on 760,000 tablets to kickstart the process.

Why is this a big deal?

A national census isn’t just about knowing how many people live in Nigeria; it’s the foundation for proper governance, planning, and resource allocation. Without data, policies and budgets will be built on vibes. This is why a new census is long overdue.

But there’s a major blocker that could stop this census from happening—funding. The fact that Nigeria, the African giant, still has to rely on development partners to fund something as basic as a population count is not the flex the government thinks it is. In 2006, external donors covered 40% of the cost, and 19 years later, the government is still looking for outside help. For a country that wants to be taken seriously on the global stage, needing financial support to count its own people isn’t exactly a power move.

And if this all sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve heard it before. In 2022, under Buhari’s administration, there was a big announcement about conducting a digital census. It made headlines, and ₦178.09 billion was allocated to pull it off. But after we all got our hopes high, we got ghosted.

Nigerians have seen this movie before, and the ending is usually the same: lots of talk and little action. But we genuinely hope the president pulls this one off before 2027.

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Senator wants Tinubu to honour Abiola, but the agenda isn’t agending

“Give unto Ceaser what belongs to Ceaser” doesn’t exactly apply to Nigerian politics; at least, that’s what we learnt from the late MKO Abiola’s “loss”.

Now that we finally know that Abiola won the June 12 election, some politicians, like former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, are calling for the Tinubu administration to recognize Abiola as a past president and hang his portrait in Aso Rock alongside other former leaders. It’s a fair ask because Abiola won, and we’re still struggling to process the fact that Nigerians are just supposed to ignore the fact that we were lied to and move on.

Kalu insists that hanging a portrait isn’t just for aesthetics; it’s a symbolic move to give Abiola the recognition he was robbed of.

But Kalu’s call for justice might not be as pure as it seems because he also soft-launched his 2027 campaign pitch for Tinubu in the same breath. When asked about the next election, Kalu boldly said: “Asiwaju will win in 2027.”

Nigerian elections have always been questionable, and promising victory three years in advance while “advocating” for a victim of electoral manipulation is definitely a choice. Nigerians are feeling many things at the moment, but Asiwaju and his controversial reforms aren’t among them.

The same president being asked to honour Abiola is the same one struggling to deliver on his manifesto promises. Maybe we should start there first.

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