Odimegwu resigns appointment as Chairman of the National Population Commission

The Chairman of the National Population Commission, Eze Festus Odimegwu has resigned.

In a statement from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, there was no explanation as to what led to his resignation.

The statement only named the commissioner representing Abia state, Doctor Sam Ahaiwe as the Acting Chairman of the commission, pending the appointment of a chairman.

Eze Odimegwu had been embroiled in several controversies including his objection to the figures of some National census.

The Chairman of National Population Commission was suspended from office on the 27th of August this year and according to federal government he was suspended for mismanagement, reckless utterances and embarrassment of the government.

One of the northern governors also called for the sack of the Former NPC Chairman, saying nothing good will come out of the 2016 census if he remains in office as the chairman of the commission, as he was a square peg in a round hole at the NPC.

Odumegwu alleged that the figures released after previous census exercises, the last of which was held in 2006 were mostly cooked up.

“There was no census,” the former NB plc managing director said at a press conference earlier this year of the 2006 exercise.

“Mind you population forgery is done everywhere, is done in every states, every locality, every region, it’s not restricted in any particular region. It’s done everywhere because politicians want to manipulate it because they want to use it during politics,” he added while affirming that government officials forged figures for states and local governments in the census.

He also claimed that during a review of the review of the 2006 census in Minna, Niger State, official he identified as Inuwa Mohammed publicly confessed on how money meant for the exercise was shared among government officials.

“Mohammed stood up and told the whole commissioners, all the former directors and new directors that were there for the meeting, how they shared 3 million Pounds and N90 million in a hotel room. The money of hiring and training of enumerators for the census, that there was no census,” he said.

“Somebody called me and said, ‘chairman you must hear this.’ I said put Mohammed on the phone and I said ‘Mohammed I love you, I wished all Nigerians are like you, you are the type of person if you are near me, I would have kissed you.’ And I appointed him my SA in charge of anti-corruption in the NPC,” he added.

The former brewer said because of his belief that the 2006 census was a fraud, he had asked the commission’s lawyers to stop defending cases filed by states and local governments in court challenging the results.

He added that the law guiding census must be reviewed if the next exercise scheduled for 2016 is to be credible. The results of the past census exercises had consistently indicated that the Northern part of the country is the most populated region of Nigeria, against the norm in other West African countries.

Population is a key factor in allocation of revenue to states and local governments from the federal purse. It is also one of the indices used in the creation of local governments.

Thus, the Northern part of Nigeria has benefitted from its being ranked as the most populous part of the country in the past exercises.

However, most Southerners had also consistently disagreed with the census results, with claims that the Northern part of the country with vast Sahelian and desert areas cannot be more populated than the South. Like Odimegwu, they had also claimed that the results of the past exercise were manipulated.

It was therefore not a surprise that the former NB plc CEO assertions did not go down well with most Nigerians, especially from the Northern part of the country.

 

We all know Odimegwu said nothing but the core and painful truth in respect to past census figures. I wonder why the President bow to ethnic pressures and force this man to resign!