The National Population Commission, NPC, said Nigeria’s population growth rate had reached 3.2 per cent based on the estimated population of 216 million.
According to NAN, Ejike Eze, NPC Federal Commissioner representing Enugu State, disclosed this on Wednesday at a lecture organised by the commission and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus.
He said Nigeria was among the fastest growing populations in the world and required periodic censuses for proper planning of development programmes.
According to him, Nigeria’s inability to conduct a population census within the last 17 years had created an information vacuum.
“This is because the data from the last census in 2006 has been rendered less useful for planning purposes.
“There is also the need to ensure the implementation of poverty alleviation programmes driven by current data from the 2023 census”, he said.
In his remarks, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of UNN Enugu Campus, Prof. Dan Nwachukwu, described NPC’s collaboration with IDS as “timely and appropriate”.
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ latest data estimated Nigeria’s population to be 221,448,144.
Recall that Nigeria suspended its 2023 census at the twilight of former President Muhammdu Buhari administration.