Dr Ghaji Bello, Director-General (D-G) of the National Population Commission (NPoPC), on Wednesday, said the Commission would use electronic enumeration method to determine the actual population of Nigeria.
Bello said that Nigeria presently has an estimated population of about 198 million people, adding that the commission was determined to conduct a reliable and accurate census in the near future.
The Director General spoke in Abuja ahead of the World Population Day on Thursday.
He called on the Federal Government to support the commission to conduct a comprehensive and reliable census to ascertain the country’s actual population.
“We arrived at the estimated 198 million after elimination of all the variables like mortality rates,” he said.
According to him, the commission will capture people’s fingerprints in the coming census using machines programmed to reject any double counting.
The Director General noted that another round of census was long overdue, 10 years after the last exercise was conducted in the country.
Bello, who expressed confidence in the capacity of the commission to conduct accurate census, called on government to make it realisable.
The 2019 World Population Day would be marked in Abuja on Thursday.
