Tinubu presides over FEC meeting, swears in NPC Commissioners

President Bola Tinubu has sworn in two more commissioners of the National Population Commission. Mr. Fasuwa Johnson and Dr. Amid Tadese Raheem from Ogun and Osun States respectively took the oath of office at 12:15 pm at the Council Chamber of the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, after their abridged citations were read. Monday’s ceremony comes three months after Tinubu, on February 13, asked the senate to confirm Raheem as a commissioner of the NPC. The Senate also confirmed Johnson on March 6. On November 8, 2023, Tinubu had appointed 20 federal commissioners in the NPC with nine of them reappointed for a second term in office. He swore 17 of them into office on March 14. Johnson was born in 1973 in Ododeyo, in the Ijebu North East area of Ogun State, where he had his primary and secondary education. He holds a Master of Science in Geography in 2004 and a Master in Business Administration in 2009 from the University of Ibadan and Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, respectively. He was elected as a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly in 2019 representing Ijebu North East till June 2023 during which he was the Chairman of the House Committee on Works and Infrastructure among other positions. Raheem was born on December 12, 1964, in Iwo, Osun State. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Public Administration from the same university. He had served as Commissioner for Water Resources & Energy in Osun State and was elected member of the Osun State House of Assembly, becoming its first Chief Whip in 1992. Until his nomination, Raheem was the Head of the Department of Public Administration at Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State.

Botched 2023 Census: Court asks NPC to release detail spending

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the National Population Commission (NPC) to release details of spendings on the aborted 2023 Population Census to an Abuja based lawyer, Opatola Victor within seven days. The judge declared that the refusal by the NPC to release the information or records of spendings on the aborted census as requested by the lawyer on March 30, 2023, was illegal and unconstitutional. On the strength of Section 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, (FOI) the court held that the refusal of the commission to provide the plaintiff with information on the companies that provided due diligence report on the technology to be deployed for the ill-fated census was a gross violation of the right of the plaintiff. The court, however, refused to grant N500,000 in favour of the plaintiff as he requested in the suit. In the judgment, the judge granted an order of mandamus compelling the NPC, its servants, agents privies and officials to furnish the lawyer with comprehensive and detailed information concerning the Quality Test Assurance Report on the devices and technology to be deployed for the postponed 2023 population census. Justice Ekwo rejected the claim by the defendant that bureaucracy and the absence of its executive chairman at the time was responsible for the refusal to make the requested records available to the plaintiff adding that the claim was untenable. The judge also dismissed the claim by the NPC that some of the requested information was classified which prompted the refusal to make the records available to the plaintiff, adding that from the definition of classified information, there was nothing secret on the issue of population census. Justice Ekwo also said that the position of the commission that the record sought by the plaintiff was already in the public domain was not tenable because the request of the plaintiff was on record at the disposal of the NPC and not the one in the public domain. The Abuja lawyer had in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/ 503/2023 prayed the court for an order that the refusal of the population commission to make the record of spendings on the aborted population census among others, available to him was a breech of his rights under Section 4 of the FOI Act 2012. He has prayed the court for an order of mandamus compelling the population commission to make the requested records of the aborted 2023 population census available to him in line with the provisions of the FOI Act. Although the plaintiff requested for a compensation of N500,000 for the breach of his rights by NPC under FOI, Justice Ekwo turned down the request on the grounds that the commission was not convicted for any offense.