By Segun Dada, Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, took to his X account on Friday to defend the panel set up by President Bola Tinubu, stressing that each member was carefully selected based on their relevance to delivering a credible and effective census.
“Besides the Principal Secretary to the President—who is there to represent the President directly—every other member has a crucial role to play,” Dada wrote.
He listed the committee’s lineup:
Chairman: Senator Atiku Bagudu (Minister of Budget and National Planning)
Secretary: Mallam Nasir Isa Kwarra (Chairman, National Population Commission)
Members: Mohammed Idris (Minister of Information and National Orientation), Engr. Abisoye Odusote (DG, National Identity Management Commission), Wale Edun (Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy), Zacch Adedeji (Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service), Hakim Muri-Okunola (Principal Secretary to the President), and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations.
Dada questioned the criticism, asking, “Who among these people, whose current offices are critical to the success of any national census, should be removed?”
He further explained that the committee’s task is time-bound—just three weeks—and focused on drafting a strategy that aligns financial, identity, and communication systems to ensure the smooth delivery of the census.
Urging Nigerians to set aside what he called “unwarranted premonitions,” Dada called for public support instead of suspicion. “We are about to have the best population census of our lifetime,” he said, “and no distractions should be encouraged.
