By Abdul Suleiman
Nigeria may have lost over N400 billion in technical equipment, accessories, training, and first aid materials procured by the National Population Commission (NPC) for the botched 2023 census, investigations have shown.
This is even as local contractors who supplied the materials and provided other logistics for the twice-postponed census have been lamenting the non-payment of debts owed them by the NPC. Three years after the supplies, contractors were said to have been owned a cumulative N100 billion, which some of the contractors argued should be reviewed in line with the devaluation of the Naira.
Recall that in early February 2023, the NPC took delivery of the census materials supplied by vendors, technical consultants and partners. The materials were delivered nationwide in readiness for the census, then scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.
However, the headcount described by then President Muhammadu Buhari as the first ever ‘digital census’ in Nigeria was postponed for the second time after the initial proposed dates in 2022 and 2023. Since then, the materials have continued to gather dust in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) facilities in 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
President Muhammadu Buhari had wanted to ensure the conduct of the population and housing census as one of his legacy projects before leaving office, but for some reasons, chief of which was the transitional plans to a new government, which culminated in the 2023 general elections, the census was postponed.
A top officer at NPC confided in our reporter that the contractors were put under pressure to meet deadlines allotted to them, which they did, but regretted that after the technical equipment was supplied and trainings conducted, the census was postponed without the contractors receiving their outstanding payments.
One of the contractors who confided in our reporter said he almost committed suicide last year following pressure from the bank, which financed his job on loan at a high interest rate, which now stands at 35 percent.
Technical evaluation indicates that most of the equipment may have gone bad due to humidity and lack of use, as they may not have been stored in the best conditions that would guarantee their durability and effectiveness over a long period. Some devices, namely tablets and other handhelds, have been known to malfunction when stored in a humid environment on account of heat and poor aeration.
Inquiries at NPC offices showed that some of the equipment procured for the census includes tablets, batteries, power banks, and medical first aid materials.
While some of the first aid materials may have expired, the motherboards inside the tablets could go bad if the humidity in the storage facilities exceed certain threshold, technical experts say.
An opinion poll conducted by our reporters across the nation showed that Nigerians strongly desire to have accurate census figures and credible demographics about their country, as many said they have no confidence in the estimated figure being quoted in the last 20 years. Nigeria had her last census in 2006.
Respondents in the poll want President Bola Tinubu to direct the NPC to donate the 750,000 tablets, power-banks and other items to Nigerian students across the country before they go completely bad.
An electrical cum electronic engineer, Mr. Andrew Omeje, said the possibility of the equipment going bad is very high.
He explained that the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), which is the tablet to be used in the population and housing census, has a shelf-life of about three years, which is the shelf-life of tablets, but adds that this may be compromised when they are not stored in appropriate environmental conditions.
According to him, tablets are not designed to last for many years like laptops and desktops because of their low processing power and limited upgradability.