Historizing Population Census and the Question of National Development in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31150/ajshr.v6i3.3378Keywords:
Population, Census, National development, Population census, Politics, EthnicityAbstract
The issue of’ demography is very critical and essential in the growth and development of any country such as the projection for public health facilities, unemployment, aging population, mortality rate, growth rate, school enrolment, agriculture among others. However, in Nigeria population census has always been politicized for fear that it would be used as an index for religious affiliation and to determine the number of registered voters during election. Also, quiet alarming are the general human and environmental poverty, the4eclining quality of life and the underutilized as well as barely tapped wealth of human resources as a result of the inadequacies of the population census. This paper therefore, argues that population census provide statistics that-affords the country the opportunity to plan for its citizens and concludes that accurate and trustworthy population, census baring falsifications would put Nigeria in a better pedestal for development.
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