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Census’ Further Delay Amounts To Waste Of Resources

Published

2 years ago

September 26, 2024

By Joel Ajayi

One year six Months into the government of “Renewed Hope“ coordinated by President Bola Tinubu has yet to announce a date for Nigeria’s long overdue, long-awaited National Population and Housing Census, which many believe is paramount to better national planning and exceptional governance.

The delay comes after former President Muhammadu Buhari postponed the 2023 census indefinitely, leaving the responsibility of setting a new date to his successor.

Despite pledging support for the census, Tinubu has yet to confirm when the exercise will take place, leaving key stakeholders anxious about the impact of further delays.

The last census in Nigeria was conducted in 2006, recording a population of 140 million. Since then, the country has relied on estimated figures for policy decisions, which has left many concerned about data accuracy for resource allocation and representation.

A year after taking over power, Tinubu is yet to announce a date for the exercise. Nigerians who know the importance of the census are bothered by the delay in the announcement of the new date. They are more worried that no provision was made for it in the N27.5 trillion 2024 federal budget.

Stakeholders in the number frowned at the delay in conducting the much-awaited census while many tag the delay as a waste of resources

Furthermore, information in the public domain shows that before the rescheduling, the National Population Commission had concluded the implementation of all the necessary preparatory activities. They include the Enumeration Area Demarcation, conduct of pre-test and trial census, recruitment and training of census field staff, procurement and configuration of Personal Digital Assistants, and the establishment of Information and Communication Technology infrastructure across the country.

According to the NPC, all the processes of the census are going to be technology-driven. As the enumerators are getting information in the field using the PDA, it would be transmitted automatically from the system to the server.

The use of technology would make the fresh census more credible, transparent, and acceptable than previous censuses conducted in the country.

The Commission equally conducted robust advocacy and publicity campaigns across the country, to sensitize Nigerians to the exercise. They were in the process of recruiting enumerators when the immediate-past administration rescheduled the exercise. Given that Tinubu promised during the campaigns to continue where Buhari stopped, many Nigerians, including this writer, thought that the census would be handled with a sense of urgency, considering its immense benefits to the country. So far, our expectations on the exercise have not been met.

Conducting a census is a capital-intensive exercise. There is no doubt about that. The United States Agency for International Development described the census as “the most expensive data collection activity a country can undertake, involving thousands of workers and millions of dollars of cost.”

The process of conducting a census involves many events and stages. However, in considering the cost and the rigour, we should also look at the numerous benefits.

The census is the spine of the national statistical system. For example, development planners need population information for all kinds of development work, including assessing demographic trends and analyzing socio-economic trends and economic conditions. Similarly, data generated from the exercise are vital to budgeting and the implementation, monitoring, as well as evaluation of the effectiveness of government programs and policies, including immunization and Universal Basic Education programs

Likewise, census data could be used for tracking the progress towards national and internationally agreed development plans, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, designing evidence-based poverty reduction strategies, and empowering local communities with information to enable them to participate in decision-making. In the political sphere, census data are used for the creation of federal and state constituencies to enhance effective representation in government.

Nigeria practices representative democracy and the constitution makes population a prerequisite for the creation of federal and state constituencies, which constitutes a critical basis of representation in the country.

The Senate and House of Representatives have passed resolutions, asking the Independent National Electoral Commission to carry out its mandate of creating new federal constituencies in line with Section 73 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. The electoral umpire has often used the prolonged non-conduct of population census as an excuse for refusing to do so.

In addition, data generated from a census could be used for academic research and feasibility studies by research and development departments of companies and corporate organizations, for promotions, programs, and projects. These are to mention but a few. Regrettably, Nigeria, the widely acclaimed “Giant of Africa” has been deprived of these benefits for almost two decades, as a result of its inability to conduct the census. The last population enumeration in the country took place in 2006. Since then, Nigeria has been planning based on population estimates and projections, using outdated data. We should also not lose sight of the fact that the last census was marred by controversies like the previous ones.

By international convention, a census exercise should be held in a country at least once every 10 years. The United Nations recommends at least once every five years to guarantee better and more current data. Nigeria held its last census 18 years ago.

Going by the UN recommendation, Nigeria ought to have held at least three censuses and should be preparing for the fourth one by now. We are, however, lagging behind our peers.

However, NPC proposed November 2024 for the census but is still awaiting presidential approval.

Experts on Friday warned that further delays could waste resources and impede critical national planning.

According to the information from NPC, the commission is “99 percent ready” to carry out the census.

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Business

Turning Africa’s Raw Materials Into Wealth: The ARMS 2026 Industrial Agenda

Published

4 days ago

September 29, 2026

The Gleamer

By Joel Ajayi

For decades, Africa’s vast natural resources have powered industries and economies far beyond the continent, while many African countries have remained largely exporters of unprocessed commodities and importers of finished products.

That familiar pattern is now coming under renewed scrutiny as policymakers, researchers, investors and industrialists seek to change the direction of Africa’s resource economy.

At the centre of that conversation is the second edition of the Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026), scheduled for October 19 and 20 at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja, under the theme: “From African Feedstock to African Factories.”

Organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the summit is being positioned as more than another gathering of policymakers and industry stakeholders. It is intended to provide a platform for confronting the structural challenges that have kept African raw materials largely disconnected from local manufacturing.

Africa has for years operated largely within a “pit-to-port” economic model, exporting raw materials while importing expensive finished products.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the summit on Tuesday in Abuja, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, said the event would bring together policymakers, investors, researchers, technology providers and industrialists to develop practical strategies for transforming Africa’s abundant natural resources into industrial wealth.

The challenge, therefore, is not simply the abundance of resources, but the continent’s ability to transform those resources into industrial value, employment, technology and wealth within Africa.

Nigeria alone, according to the RMRDC, has more than $582.4 billion in documented non-renewable natural resources, while the wider continent possesses substantial deposits of critical minerals, agricultural raw materials and industrial feedstock.

Yet, the benefits of this resource endowment have often been constrained by inadequate processing capacity, weak infrastructure, limited technology, financing gaps and fragmented regional value chains.

From Dialogue to Industrial Action

ARMS 2026 builds on the maiden edition held in May 2025, which attracted more than 1,000 delegates from across the world.

The inaugural summit also witnessed the unveiling of the Ten-Year Raw Materials Transformation Roadmap (2025–2034) by the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owen Enoh.

The roadmap was designed around areas including technological capability, climate-resilient processing and backward integration, establishing a policy framework for greater domestic utilisation of Africa’s raw materials.

The second edition is expected to move the conversation further by bringing policy, capital, technology and industrial stakeholders around practical mechanisms for turning raw materials into locally manufactured products.

One of the major proposals highlighted by the RMRDC is the 30 per cent Mandatory Value Addition Bill, which seeks to establish a statutory minimum level of value addition to Nigerian raw materials before export.

The Council says the proposed framework could support job creation, import substitution, foreign-exchange conservation and increased manufacturing contribution to the economy.

Building the Infrastructure for Value Addition

The industrial transformation envisaged by ARMS 2026 goes beyond legislation.

A major concern is the “missing middle” between where raw materials are produced and where factories are located.

Poor transportation networks, inadequate cold-chain facilities, weak rural roads, limited testing and certification infrastructure and border-related delays can make locally sourced materials more expensive and less competitive.

Consequently, logistics and infrastructure constitute one of the five principal pillars of the summit.

The objective is to develop more reliable corridors connecting farms and mines with processing centres and manufacturing facilities, thereby reducing losses and improving the movement of industrial inputs.

The Digital Dimension

Technology is also becoming an important part of the Council’s strategy.

The RMRDC says it has developed the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP), described as a digital repository containing information on feedstock deposits, specifications, production outputs and industrial absorption rates.

The Council has also highlighted its transition towards paperless operations and its certification as a Data Controller/Processor of Major Importance by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Such digital infrastructure could provide investors and manufacturers with better information about the availability and characteristics of raw materials while supporting more informed industrial planning.

Turning Waste Into Industrial Inputs

Another major component of ARMS 2026 is the proposed expansion of the circular economy.

The summit will examine how agricultural by-products, mine tailings, scrap metals and biomass can be recovered and reused as inputs for new production processes rather than being treated simply as waste.

The RMRDC argues that such an approach could lower raw-material costs while supporting more sustainable and climate-resilient manufacturing systems.

For Africa, where industrial expansion must increasingly balance economic development with environmental considerations, waste industrialisation could become an important part of the continent’s manufacturing conversation.

From National Production to African Value Chains

The African Continental Free Trade Area is another important element of the summit’s agenda.

The RMRDC sees AfCFTA as an opportunity to create regional value chains in which raw materials sourced in one African country can be processed and supplied to manufacturers in another.

Under such a model, Africa would move beyond simply exporting commodities to external markets and develop stronger internal networks for supplying chemicals, refined minerals, agricultural inputs and other industrial materials across national borders.

This approach places regional integration at the heart of Africa’s industrialisation strategy.

Bridging Research and Capital

A recurring weakness in many developing economies is the gap between research and commercialisation.

Innovations may emerge from universities, research institutions and laboratories without receiving the financing, equipment or market connections required to become commercially viable.

ARMS 2026 intends to address that gap through technology commercialisation and capital linkages, connecting research outputs with investors, development finance institutions and industrial off-takers.

The RMRDC has also cited partnerships with the Bank of Industry for commercial-scale post-harvest processing and a South-South technology-transfer partnership with the National Innovation Centre par Excellence in Shanghai, China.

A Larger Industrial Conversation

The scale of ARMS 2026 is expected to be significantly larger than the maiden edition.

The organisers project more than 1,800 delegates from all 54 African countries and global industrial partners.

The programme will feature high-level policy dialogues, technical panels, an advanced raw materials and technology exhibition, industrial site visits and the African Raw Materials Industry Awards.

The exhibition, in particular, is expected to showcase locally fabricated processing machinery, advanced domestic materials, green chemicals and engineered commercial inputs.

Beyond the speeches and exhibitions, however, the real significance of ARMS 2026 will ultimately depend on what happens after the summit.

Africa’s challenge has never been a shortage of raw materials. The more difficult question has been how to transform those resources into factories, products, skilled employment, technology and sustainable economic opportunities.

For Nigeria and the rest of the continent, the proposed shift from “pit-to-port” to “feedstock-to-factory” therefore represents a broader debate about the future structure of African economies.

ARMS 2026 seeks to place that debate firmly on the industrial agenda — with value addition, technology, finance, infrastructure, circular production and regional trade at the centre.

If the commitments and partnerships generated by the summit translate into measurable industrial activity, the event could provide another platform for Africa to examine how its enormous resource base can support stronger domestic manufacturing.

The message from the organisers is clear: the continent’s raw materials should not only leave African soil as commodities; they should increasingly become the foundation for African industrial production

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