Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Abidjan (Fides Service) - A population census in Nigeria has been prolonged for another two days. The news was announced by the President Mr Olusegun Obasanjo who explained that the National Population Commission asked for the operation to be extended “to give its operators time to reach rural areas not included” in previous population counts.
The census started on 21 March and was to conclude on 25 March. People were asked to stay at home to be more easily reached and counted by the census operators.
However almost everywhere the census operation met with resistance and tension between the central government and local communities struggling to demonstrate their numerical superiority, since population is the measure for the distribution of oil profits and for deciding proportional political representation.
President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to placate the violence saying “a national census is not a question of politics and cannot be an excuse for a fight for supremacy”.
The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria at the end of the plenary assembly (see Fides 15 March 2006) urged all Nigerians to take part in the census. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/3/2006 righe 24 parole 243)
