The last time Nigeria held a national population census was in 2006.
According to decree 23 of 1989 that set up the National Population
Commission, the national population census was meant to be a 10 yearly
exercise, geared towards having an accurate and up to date data on the
people and buildings in Nigeria for proper development planning. Yet
it took 17 years to organize another population census after the last
one.
The national population census, scheduled for May 2 – 7, 2023, is one
of the last major exercises the Buhari administration wishes to carry
out as he ends his 8 year-tenure as the president of Nigeria. But the
aftermaths of the highly controversial 2023 presidential elections,
seems to have opened the old wound of Nigeria/Biafra Civil war and the
Igbo people are beginning to seek for how to assert themselves as
deserving of better attention than they are receiving from the Federal
Government, as well as the people of other major ethnic groups. This
is the reason for the recent repeated call for all people of Igbo
descent to make haste and come back to their states of origin to be
counted.
All the people that called in during a radio programme this morning
were of the opinion that all Igbo people living in other states of
Nigeria should make it a point of duty to return to their states of
origin for the population census. This, they said, would give a better
picture of the true number of people of the Igbo ethnic group that are
living in Nigeria.
One of the callers opined that the Igbo people were being
marginalized. He added that if the southeasters, who have a larger
chunk of them living outside their states, should come back to their
states of origin and be counted, that the federal government would be
able to get a more accurate picture of the population of the people
and thereby apportion more resources to the southeast states.
Just recently, Emma Powerful, the Director of Media and Publicity of
the indigenous People of Biafra made a press release where he urged
Igbos living outside the southeast region to return home and be
counted during the 2023 census. The reason he gave was that it would
prove to the world that the southeast people are not really “a dot in
a circle” as alluded by President Buhari in one of his speeches to the
international community.
Powerful wrote, “The mass return of our people during this forthcoming
population census will help us quantify the population of Biafrans in
Nigeria. Therefore, we must seize the opportunity the Nigeria
government is offering to our benefit. They have always told the world
that we are a dot with an insignificant population. Now is the time to
let the world know the population of Biafrans in Nigeria as the Biafra
agitation is gathering international attention and speed…IPOB is
gradually dismantling all obstacles to our freedom, and this
population census will provide another opportunity to collect more
evidence to that effect. Should there be any reason why you can’t
travel to Biafra land to be counted, make sure you and your family
members are not counted outside Biafra land. We must prove them wrong
once and for all.” He added that IPOB will engage transport owners to
be part of the project so that those willing to travel to the East to
be counted can do so.
This call goes contrary to the directive by the National Population
Commission, which stressed that citizens living away from their states
of origin need not to travel for the purpose of the exercise. It said
that people would be enumerated at their places of residence.
Yet, the people are asking if it would not be a wise idea to follow
the instruction of the IPOB as against that of the federal government.
Considering that, so far, those living in other parts of the country
like Lagos State have repeatedly been made to feel like second class
citizens. This was evident in the series of attacks and arson against
the Igbo people and their businesses in Lagos state for instance, by
those who call themselves indigenes, because of the way the Igbo who
have bought most of the land in Lagos carry themselves and even went
ahead to win some of the political positions in Lagos State.
I insist that the idea of coming home to be counted might not be
completely out of place but my position is more of a long term one. My
call is for the Igbo people who have invested so much in other states
of the federation to, in the light of the foregoing, start moving
their investments homeward. I have been of the opinion that if the
Igbos would move half the investments they established in foreign
lands in their home states, all of southeast would be like Dubai and
there would be no need for the mass exodus of young people to the
western world in search of greener pastures.
