The National Population Commission, NPC, has said that Nigeria has hit an estimated 190 million in population.
The Director-General of the commission, Dr. Ghaji Ismail, made this disclosure on Tuesday at a press conference in Abuja.
The conference was tagged ‘25 Years of ICPD: Accelerating the Promise.’
He stressed the need to conduct another census as soon as possible, saying that would help in fighting insecurity in the country.
Ismail disclosed however, that a process had been set in motion which hopefully would address the issue of census in the nearest future.
“Based on data available to us, the present population is about 190 million. About three months ago, UNFPA brought out a figure of 201 million. The UN figure is a function of the assumptions they have made.
“You have to use models to arrive at the figures you are projecting. The margin of error is very small. It is more imperative that the government should undertake another census.
“It strengthens our case that we should have undertaken another census; the last one was in 2006 and we should have had another in 2016 in line with the 10-year global requirement,” he said.