Abdulkareem Lawan, the Speaker of Borno State House of Assembly, has praised President Muhammadu Buhari for the postponement of the National Population and Housing Census originally slated for May 2023. Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri on Saturday, Lawan explained that a significant number of people from the 10 local government areas in Northern Borno were still displaced due to Boko Haram terror, taking refuge in neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad, and Cameroon Republic.
Lawan argued that conducting the census in 2023 would be a violation of the human rights of a substantial population of IDPs and refugees. President Buhari’s decision was commended by him, stating that it would enable all the IDPs and refugees to return to their homes to be counted among their fellow Nigerians.
Lawan stated that the postponement was necessary to prevent the exclusion of the displaced people from the census exercise since they have the right to be counted and represented in the national population count. He also stressed that the return of the IDPs and refugees to their ancestral homes would aid the rebuilding and development of the affected communities.