The Politics of Census in Nigeria

Over population is an extremely serious problem facing the world today. According to an article from Newsweek in Oct. 2009 called “Where do babies come from?”, today’s world population has reached over 6.6 billion people. Also the article mentioned that in 2009 57.4% of all new born babies who were born this year came from Asia alone. This is an issue because over population can lead to hasty consumption of resources. China who has one of the largest population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, has taken a stance against over population.

Nigeria is a country with abundant resources and the potential to be a very powerful nation, but it is hampered by many problems. These problems are caused by Nigeria’s colonization by England. Because of this intrusion on their way of life, their future was altered dramatically. The nation of Nigeria as a whole has suffered greatly as a country because of this colonization, its problem is rooted in the way it was colonized and ruled.

Along the lines of population is the

The U.S. Constitution empowers the Congress to carry out the census as directed in Article I, Section 2 of the constitution. The plan was to count every person living in the newly created United States of America, and to use that count to determine representation in the Congress. They accomplished that goal in 1790 and our country has every 10 years since then. Eventually on July 1, 1903 The United States Census Bureau was founded to count every resident in the United States.

The 1790 to 1840 census’ are somewhat vague, listing only the heads of households and the number of people living in the household of particular genders and age groups. The census’ of 1850 and later all provide more information on each particular family.

Based on the Census, from 2005 to 2050 (Figure 1) the presumptions about richness and birth rates, dying, immigration, and migration are the 3 main categories for demographic change. These shouldn’t be looked upon as expectations for further years to come, since they are dependent on the future drifts in socioeconomic and political enclosures. Moroeover, these hypotheses can expand because of critical parts of the populace interrelated progressions. A sample is if migration lessens. This could then accelerate a decrease in the conception rate because of recommended examination expressing that vast families have a tendency to be connected with the migrant populace instead of local conceived occupants.

first problem with this can be found in the US Census’, Voting and Registration in the Election

In the world today we have became to known of the upcoming problem;its not only been a problem in the U.S but other counties as well. Today’s population consist of 7,362,302,944 people world wide.Although, growing in population is consistently is a bad thing but it can be a good thing.

It is pertinent to mention over the here Population Census Case where the collection of personal data by the government was challenged in the German constitutional court. Facts of the case were, The Federal Census Act,1983 made provision for a general census of the population, employment, housing and places of employment for statistical purposes. The declared purpose of the Act was to obtain information on the most recent state of the population, its geographic distribution and its composition in terms of demo graphic and social characteristics as well as on the economic activity of the population through the surveys-to be carried out, which information provides the in dispensable basis for decisions in the areas

In this project, I will examine the relative rate of population growth for the individual countries of a selected region. I chose ten countries in Africa: Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Angola, and South Africa, one country from Eastern Europe, Estonia, one country from Asia, China, one country from the Middle East, Iran, one country from South America, Bolivia, and the United States. Below, I will rank each of the countries from highest to lowest in each of the categories concerning population growth and describe their relationships. Population growth is influenced by multiple factors, such as, population policies, culture, and geography.

Demography has always intrigued me, especially because it allows me to conduct independent research using online open sources. Recently, I investigated why the population of sub-Saharan Africa is increasing so rapidly while Lithuania’s declines from an already low level.

The first was the weak sense of nationalism caused by all the ethnic groups where religion played a major part of the division. The main three ethnicities in Nigeria are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo; the former is Muslim while the two latter are Christians. The second cause mentioned was the “divide and rule” which was a British tactic to employ ethnic groups against one another, and thus “helped ensure that ethnicity would be the main line of political cleavage after Nigeria became an independent country.” The third cause is the personal rule system based on “big men” and what this means is that Nigerian’s who worked for the British used their personal relationships to gain power and wealth, and in a certain way it is still used today in the Nigerian government. The fourth devastating cause was the “creation of an increasingly active and interventionist state during WWII and after until its independence in 1960, but that opened the doors to patronage, which would be used to gain political power and wealth. The past reveals the problems Nigeria has had for several decades, some of which have not disappeared but seem to get progressively worse. (CITATION)

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the country and its environs. Nigeria a former British Colony, located in the western part of Africa, it shares borders with Benin, Cameroun, and Niger. A growing population of 150million, labour force of 51million (70% Agriculture, 10% industry and 20% service), urbanisation is less than 40%, GDP is over $300billion, Per capita income is $2300. Nigeria is blessed with different cultures, languages and ethnic groups (252 in total); this was due to the colonization of the British in the early 19th century (Columbia Encyclopaedia). The British amalgamated its protectorates in 1914 to enable stable control and governance which made them create one Nation of Nigeria formed from all the groups, community and empires around the Niger area under their control. Nigeria had her independence on the 1st of October 1960 and since then various civil wars, political and religious unrest in the country to share power and resources amicably.

     Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time. The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria's problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups,

There are many factors contributing in the population explosion in India, and the increased population has led to many others consequences. Anyhow, steps are taken by the government of India to control this predicament.