On Thursday (today), Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, appealed to the Federal Government to suspend the conduct of the 2023 National Population Census.
Recall that the federal government had scheduled the exercise to hold in May 2023.
Ortom, however, while playing host to a delegation from the Middle Belt Forum led by its President, Dr Bitrus Pogu, at Government House in Makurdi today said many people of the state were in the IDP camps and would not be counted because they need to be in their localities before they can participate in the exercise.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain said before any census is conducted, the federal government must ensure adequate security for the IDPs in Benue and elsewhere in the country to go back to their homes to be counted.
“I want to say that the Federal Government should suspend the issue of census because it looks like the proposed census is coming with an agenda. So, until they are able to restore security and all our IDPs go back to their ancestral lands to give all of them opportunities to be counted in the homes of birth. Because I understand from the National Population Commission that those to be counted must be counted in their localities,” Daily Trust quoted Ortom saying.
More details shortly…
