Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has asked the federal government to postpone the proposed National Population Census, which is set to take place in May 2023.
Ortom made the announcement during a meeting with a delegation from the Middle Belt Forum led by its President, Dr Bitrus Pogu, in Makurdi, the state capital, on Wednesday.
The Governor, who claimed that the census was being conducted with a hidden objective, asked the FG to postpone the process till the internally displaced persons, or IDPs, returned to their homes.
“The FG should suspend the census issue because it appears that the proposed census has an agenda,” he stated.
“So, until they are able to restore security and all of our IDPs return to their ancestral homes, we must provide them with opportunities to be counted in their birthplaces.”
“Because, according to the National Population Commission, those to be counted must be counted in their communities.”
The state has the country’s worst record of herdsmen attacks, with thousands of people killed in a single year.
Benue has almost two million people residing in several IDP camps throughout the state.
Only a week ago, the infamous killer herdsmen attacked one of the IDP settlements, killing at least 35 people.
