President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the postponement of the forthcoming census.

The exercise was billed to take place across the country between May 3 and 5.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, announced the postponement in a statement issued on Saturday.

He said the new date for the census will be determined by the incoming administration.

On Friday, a federal high court in Abuja rejected an application seeking to halt the census.

Omotuyi Ademola had approached the court with an ex parte application seeking a postponement for six months.
He prayed the court to declare that the National Population Commission (NPC) is currently underfunded and therefore unprepared to conduct a credible, effective and constitutional census.

However, Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge, refused to grant the motion ex parte and asked the applicant to put the defendant, the NPC, on notice.

Ekwo said the NPC should appear in court to show cause why the applicant’s motion should not be granted.

The matter was adjourned until May 5.
The postponement of the census comes a few weeks after the commission assured Nigerians of its readiness to conduct the exercise.