Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said the 2023 population and housing census earlier scheduled for March 29 has been shifted to May 2023.

Lai confirmed this when he briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to the minister, the decision to shift the census was necessitated by the postponement of the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from March 11 to 18.

He also disclosed that the council approved N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission (NPC), to procure some software to be used for the conduct of the census.

“There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking some software to allow them to conduct the census in May this year. I believe because of the rescheduling of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled.

“They sought council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion,” he said.