Nigerians Not Captured In 2016 Census Will Lose Citizenship
In
a statement bound to raise dust and certain to conflict with the constitution,
the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Mr. Festus Odimegwu,
has said any Nigerian who is not captured in the next demographic survey
beginning next year will not be recognised as a citizen of Nigeria, after the
2016 national population census.
Section 30(1)(2) and (3) of the 1999
Constitution provides that “the President may deprive a person, other than a
person who is a citizen of Nigeria by birth or by registration, of his
citizenship, if he is satisfied that such a person has, within a period of
seven years after becoming naturalised, been sentenced to imprisonment for a
term of not less than three years.
“The President shall deprive a person,
other than a person who is citizen of Nigeria by birth, of his citizenship, if
he is satisfied from the records of proceedings of a court of law or other
tribunal or after due inquiry in accordance with regulations made by him, that
- (a) the person has shown himself by act or speech to be disloyal towards the
Federal Republic of Nigeria; or (b) the person has, during any war in which
Nigeria was engaged, unlawfully traded with the enemy or been engaged in or
associated with any business that was in the opinion of the president carried
on in such a manner as to assist the enemy of Nigeria in that war, or
unlawfully communicated with such enemy to the detriment of or with intent to
cause damage to the interest of Nigeria.”
In addition, Odimegwu said two no-go
areas in the last census – religion and ethnicity – would be included in the
next one scheduled for 2016.
Odimegwu, who spoke at the second
National Family Planning Conference in Abuja Wednesday, declared that the N600
billion needed to conduct the exercise, which would capture biometric data over
five years, would be generated by the NPC from the sale of data to the private
sector if the Federal Government cannot provide it.
“This is a commission (under his
headship) where everything will work,” he said.
“You have to know religion and ethnic
numbers for the country to work... We will raise money from the sale of data to
the private sector to run the agency. The data base will help in national
planning,” he added.
Noting that Nigeria’s population is an
asset rather than a liability, as was being orchestrated at the second national
family planning conference, Odimegwu said having an effective demographic
system with biometric information would help in tackling the many problems of
the country, including security, healthcare delivery, education and the
economy.
Countering arguments that high
population was an issue, Odimegwu said: “There is nothing in Nigeria that is
better than our population... No great country is there without their
population. That is why China, India and the United States are great.
“The issue is not the size of our
population. The problem is the quality of people. If we take care of the
quality of life, it will take care of the quantity. A PhD holder will have no
need for 16 children.”
He said Nigeria could not develop if
it continued planning as it does now, as it requires demographic data to plan
properly.
For this reason, he said the NPC had
set up a demographic data base structure, adding that they would produce
reliable demographic data base that would cover 200,000 communities in the
country.
“Anybody that is not covered in that census will not be part of Nigeria,” he said.
“Anybody that is not covered in that census will not be part of Nigeria,” he said.
A five-year architecture for the
purpose of gathering data had been approved by President Goodluck Jonathan, he
further disclosed.
Odimegwu described the current
situation where different government agencies conducted exercises to obtain
biometric data was needless, saying his organisation is planning to have all of
them pooled and managed by NPC.
Stating that the commission was going
to work as a private sector organisation, he said: “If government is not going
to give us money, we will raise money; we will adopt the private sector
attitude, not civil service one.
“The system we want to employ will be
corruption-free. We won’t tolerate mediocrity because of federal character.”
He decried the practice of the commission which deploys its 36 commissioners to the states where they collect salaries without working for the Nigerian state, saying it was a form of corruption.
He decried the practice of the commission which deploys its 36 commissioners to the states where they collect salaries without working for the Nigerian state, saying it was a form of corruption.
For this reason, he had to order them
back to the headquarters where they are now working, he said.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu said the issue of the quality and quantity of population was like that of the chicken and egg, since a large population without the means to cater for the people was a problem.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu said the issue of the quality and quantity of population was like that of the chicken and egg, since a large population without the means to cater for the people was a problem.
“When Eze has two children and his
maiguard (security man) has 20, it is not good,” he said.
The theme of the five-day conference
is Population and National Development aimed at improving access to family
planning information and services in Nigeria.
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