By Kemi Obasola
Published: Monday, 5 Feb 2007

It said that data collected from its own parallel census, conducted during the NPC’s headcount in the state last March, had shown that the state has a population of 17,552,942 people.

The state also called for a recount of the people in the state and announced that it had concluded plans to write formally to the National Assembly on its position. It has decided, furthermore, to appear before the Census Tribunal to defend the results of its parallel census.

Governor Bola Tinubu made these announcements at the public presentation of a report titled, “Errors, Miscalculations and Omissions: The Falsification of the Lagos Census Figures,” produced by the state’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

The event, which took place at the MUSON Centre, Lagos, was witnessed by stakeholders from the different sectors of the economy.

Gov. Tinubu said it was a shame that Nigerians still lacked accurate and reliable data for planning and public administration in the 21st century, adding that the Federal Government could afford a total re-counting exercise.

He said, “We can afford a re-count throughout the country; we want a re-count in Lagos State.

“This is the height of corruption: falsifying census figures just to please some people. No amount of adjustment done to the [provisional] figures can make them right.

“The [provisional] figure is totally rejected. We have enough support and funding from the United Nations and the European Union. So let’s have a re-count.”