Resettle IDPs before census, MBF tells FG

Forum 9 months ago

Resettle IDPs before census, MBF tells FG

The Middle Belt Forum has asked the National Population Commission not to set new dates for the 2023 National Population and Housing Census until the issue of Internally Displaced Persons is addressed.

According to the MBF, the NPC has no basis to meet President Bola Tinubu to fix new dates for census when some Nigerians displaced from their communities are still living in IDP camps.

The MBF said this in a statement on Tuesday by its President, Dr Pogu Bitrus.

The group said it recalled that the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari suspended the census amid protest by IDPs that they would be shut out of the exercise.

“For now, the primary focus of the Federal Government should not be conducting a population and housing census. The priority should be how to ensure that millions of displaced persons across Nigeria, especially in the Middle Belt region, are provided with adequate security to return to where they were forced to flee.

“Conducting the census now without addressing the IDP issues amounts to a deliberate manoeuvre to palm off a false demography on a nation whose citizens have been driven from their habitations by foreign Fulani invaders,” the MBF said.

It argued that as desirable as census was, the purpose would be defeated if there is no guarantee of acuracy of the headcount.

The MBF added, “In a situation where foreign criminal Fulani militias have overtaken some Middle Belt communities, the Federal Government must not spare any person or interest in restoring order and providing adequate security for lives and property.

“If the census goes ahead as planned without resolving the present security challenges and returning IDPs to their communities, legitimacy would be conferred on the vicious brigands that have continued to carry out genocidal attacks on defenceless communities.

“No nation, including Nigeria, should conduct a census in troubling times. While not underestimating the relevance of the headcount, the Forum calls on the Federal Government to work towards resolving security challenges in order to avoid conducting another census that may be marred by disputes.”