The outcry by some sections of the media on the committee formed by President Tinubu to create a report on the proposed National Census is entirely laughable and ill-informed.
The committee as it stands, bar the Principal Secretary to the President who will stand in for the President himself, consists entirely of officials whose current positions align with the agenda of the National Census. It will be abominable to form any such committee without them.
A look at the list again
– Chairman – Senator Atiku Bagudu (Minister of Budget and National Planning)
– Secretary – Mallam Nasir Isa Kwarra (Chairman, National Population Commission)
– Member – HM Muhammad Idris (Minister of Information and National Orientation)
– Member – Engr Abisoye Odusote (Director General of the National Identity Management Commission) (NIMC)
– Member – HM Wale Edun (Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy)
– Member – Zacch Adedeji (Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service) (FIRS)
– Member – Hakim Muri-Okunola (Principal Secretary to the President who)
– Member – Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations (Office of the Chief of Staff).
The question to be asked is who among these people, whose current offices are crucial to the success of any National Census to be conducted, should be removed?
Better still, how big should such committee have been all in the name of accommodating sentiments?
The task is just for three weeks and all the president requires is a report on how to combine finances, with our existing database alongside communications model to ensure the success of the much-needed census exercise.
Let us continue to trust the administration by looking beyond unwarranted premonitions which has stunted our growth for decades. We are about to have the best population census of our lifetime and no distractions should be encouraged.
