The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved 2.8 billion nairas for the procurement of software for the National Population Commission for the conduct of the National Census in May 2023.

Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, also disclosed that the 2023 population and housing census earlier scheduled for March 29 has been shifted to May 2023.

He explained that the decision was necessitated by the rescheduling of the governorship elections from March 11 to March 18.

FEC further approved the Nigeria Agenda 2050, a plan aimed at increasing real GDP growth by seven percent, creating 165 million nairas in new jobs, and reducing the number of people living in poverty to 2.1 million in 2050.

This is coming about 29 months after President Buhari inaugurated the National Steering Committee for the preparation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021 to 2025 and Nigeria Agenda 2050.

The overall objective is to take Nigeria through to an Upper Middle-Income Country and subsequently to the status of a High-Income country by 2050.