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Nigerians shopping in Lagos
Photo: TEMILADE ADELAJA / REUTERS
Nigeria plans to conduct its first census in 17 years next year.
The country wants to finally achieve an accurate count of the population, which is estimated at more than 200 million people.
It is likely to be the largest on the African continent, said the head of the national population authority on Thursday.
Censuses are controversial in Nigeria.
Rival ethnic and religious groups have tried to exploit them in the past.
They tried to manipulate them so that they could assert their numerical superiority.
In doing so, they ultimately wanted to claim a larger share of oil revenues and political representation.
Originally, Nigeria wanted to conduct the census last year.
Due to the increasingly tense situation, especially in the north of the country, it was postponed again.
In the north, the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram is primarily responsible for numerous kidnappings for ransom, but criminal gangs also repeatedly cause unrest there.
President Muhammadu Buhari's government can do little to counter the violence in the country.
Security in the country should also be a challenge again with the planned census.
Gunmen have recently stepped up their attacks and kidnappings.
Just last Sunday, 154 people were killed in an attack in the northern state of Plateau.
Dozens of people were kidnapped.
Nigeria's population is divided into Muslims in the north and Christians in the south, as well as 300 ethnic groups.
Ethnic and religious violence has repeatedly flared up in the past.
The World Bank estimates that Nigeria's population will surpass that of the United States by 2050, reaching nearly 400 million people.
mfh/Reuters
