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nairaland.net • View topic - Rejections Greet Census Result

Rejections Greet Census Result

Rejections Greet Census Result

Postby Richard Akindele » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:46 pm

Bolade Omonijo, Paul Odili, Ayodele Adegbuyi, Chidi Nkwopara and Olasunkanmi Akoni
Lagos

MIXED reactions, from across the country, are trailing the breakdown of the national population census figures approved by the National Council of State on Tuesday. Most opinions from Lagos and the South-East are against the breakdown. Some others endorsed the head count as realistic.

Prominent Lagos residents including Speaker, the State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, Chief Dapo Sarumi, Mr. Jimi Agbaje and Mr. Ganiyu Solomon among others, rejected the census figures released by the National Population Commission (NPC) which declared Kano as the most populous state ahead of Lagos, saying it is unrealistic.

The census figures credit Kano State with 9,3830,682 and Lagos State with 9,013,534.

Reacting to the development, the Lagos State gubernatorial candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Mr. Jimi Agbaje, expressed shock, saying: "It is an understated figure."

His words: "I need more time to really study the situation better, though I'm yet to accept the census figure. It is a known fact that the influx of people into Lagos on a daily basis is more than any other state in the country. How can they now come out with such a ridiculous figure. Even international organisations in the past put Lagos as the most populous state in the country?"

On his part, Ikuforiji said: "What we have in Lagos is definitely over 15 million. The NPC figure, to me, is not a serious figure. It does not show that a serious job has been done. The NPC may not have done a thorough work. It is quite unfortunate."

In his reaction, Afikuyomi said the figure was not consistent with reality, saying Lagos State was undercounted. "It simply does not make sense that Kano and Jigawa have about 13 million people and Lagos, nine million. I wish them luck," he said. In the same vein, Chief Sarumi said nobody could compare Lagos with any other state in Nigeria, adding: "The figure is not correct."

Also speaking, a member House of Representatives, Mr Ganiyu Solomon, rejected the figure, saying: "It is not realistic and cannot be true.There are indices that the growth of Lagos is higher than any other state in the country.

'So with this, how can they come up with such an unbelievable figure? Now, they say Kano is more than Lagos. It is not possible. Again, Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of the country where everyone even from abroad troops into. Moreso, every family is represented in Lagos. Therefore, the result or the figure released is suspect.

"For now, I will not like to comment much on it because it is still coming to the National Assembly for deliberation and fortunately, I am one of the members of the population committee of the House of Representatives that will look into it," he said.

Lamenting the figure published for the South-East, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), faulted the figure, saying: "I think Igbo lost out completely in the exercise. It is a truism that majority of Ndigbo are not predominantly resident at home. I am surprised that even Rivers State beat Imo State. This is very strange."

Nwabueze shocked

Speaking in a similar vein, Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) expressed his shock thus: "I had expected the population of the South-East states to be more, but that is my expectation. I will have to do a full study before I can make a comprehensive statement. But at the moment I am surprised by the figures published."

However, President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife, while faulting the result, said the group would make a full statement after studying the breakdown in detail. "We have to study the figures before I can give you a categorical answer. But my preliminary observation suggests that there is a shift and that shift cannot be justified by what is on ground. But my full comment will come after we have reviewed the details so that demographers and population experts will be able to guide us, so that what we say will be scientific and factual. From the figures, the South-East population is the least in Nigeria, and this makes you wonder if this is real. But as I said, a full explanation will come when we have had a detailed study."

It's incredible --Sagay

In his comment, Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) asked the Lagos State government to release the report of the census exercise it conducted to help clear doubts over the true population figure of the state. "The whole result came to me as a surprise, because the impression is that the preponderant population in the country is in the North. And the shocking part of it is Lagos, where anybody who actually is physically present in Lagos will know what is called teeming population. And this is a state which the United Nations and other world agencies have characterised as a mega city, that in the next 10 years it is going to be third largest city in the world, after Mexico and I think Tokyo, and this is population of about 20 to 25 million people. So how can Lagos be nine million? I do not understand it.

There must be something wrong. The whole thing is incredible. I do not really know. I can't fault anybody. I do not have technical knowledge about census and demography but using my intelligent layman's knowledge, I cannot understand how Kano from which Jigawa was carved can have more population than Lagos, which has retained its territorial area.

"If you add Jigawa to Kano, you have about 14 million people. So the whole thing is a puzzle. So, what I am expecting especially from Lagos State their own comment based on the calculation from their own figures, because when the census was going on, they had one person attached to everyene from the census commission, and that person took his or her own data. So we expect them to either confirm or disagree with the figure of nine million, which I think is suspiciously small for Lagos.


"Again from the Northern areas in the Sahel are normally thinly populated areas. Katsina, for example, has a very high population and that is a place in the middle of the desert, and that is a bit of a surprise to me. So we need explanation. Apart from Lagos, if you go to the South-East, that is where is you see people in large numbers, and it is not a phenomenon I have observed in some of the northern states that I have visited."

Senators differ

There were also sharp differences of opinion amongst Senators over the breakdown of the census figures. Senator Olorunibe Mamora (AD, Lagos State) rejected the breakdown, insisting that there was no way Kano could have more population than Lagos. "I don't believe that the population of Kano State can be more than that of Lagos State. So, I don't accept the census result. I have my reservations. Demographic studies do not suggest that the population of male is more than female. As a medical doctor, I can tell you that in the first five years of life, more females survive than males.

"When you look at life expectancy ratio, female live more. The hazards men face go beyond those of the female. When you move from less arid to the arid, population tends to decrease.

"Representations at the National Assembly are based on population of state. There is no reason why Kano should have more representatives than Lagos. It will be appropriate to adjust the number of representatives in Lagos to make it to be at par with that of Kano. This applies to local government because population is a basic factor in local government creation. There is no reason why Kano should have 44 local governments while Lagos has 20," he said.

Issa Kassim Oyofo (PDP, Edo State) and Abdulaziz Ahmed urged government to address the demographic issues thrown up by the new figures such as representations at the House of Representatives and the creation of local governments.

Senator Oyofo in his reaction said there was need for structural adjustments at all levels of representations. He said: "First, let me thank the Council of State for ratifying the census figure without rancor. It shows that we are united. It is a good omen for the corporate existence of the country. It also throws up other issues. If you look at the figures, Kano and Lagos are almost at par. It throws up the need to address the question of new demography. Democracy is Government of the people by the people and for the people. We need to talk seriously about structural adjustment at all levels of representations. Lagos and Kano must have equal number of local governments and representatives at the National Assembly. That also brings about what will be adjusted in the constitution. We just have to look at the figures the census have thrown up and redistribute resources," he said.

Senator Ahmed in his comment urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delineate new federal constituencies based on the new census figures. According to him, "immediately the population of a country is given, it is the duty of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delineate constituency based on that distribution.

Afenifere faults result

However, National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Chief Yinka Odumakin, kicked against the results which he condemned as worse than the previous exercise. "We will issue a detailed statement later. For now, I will just say that President Olusegun Obasanjo has merely, by the figures released, reinforced the argument for restructuring of the polity. The lopsidedness in terms of the Northern versus Southern population distribution cannot be justified but it did not start this year. It reflects in the number of local governments in the North and the South, the distribution of House of Representatives and the number of states as well as revenue allocation. It is simply ridiculous and unacceptable.

"The Obasanjo figures are even worse than the Babangida figures when you check the percentages. The way they have quickly rolled out the figures belies their hidden agenda. They still want the man retained in office beyond 2007 and that is why they are coming up with calls for the postponement of the election. That is not acceptable to us and the generality of Nigerians. What the man has done by releasing those figures shows that the Northerners constitute 63.3 per cent of the Nigerian population and this is a recipe for disaster. The most critical project for us now is to ensure that the man President Obasanjo leaves and we have a new government," he said.

Oyinlola hails result

In his comment, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State hailed the exercise, saying, the provisional figure of 3.4 million for the state as approved by the council of state clearly justified his complaint when he came into the office that the state was undercounted in the 1991 exercise.

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