By Yinka Ajayi

The third phase of the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD), scheduled to commence nationwide tomorrow preparatory to the next Population and Housing Census in Nigeria, may not start in Lagos.

The exercise is said to be slated for Agege Local Government Area of the state.

Officials at the state headquarters of the National Population Commission (NPC), situated at Babs Animashaun, Surulere, Lagos, said the exercise appeared to have been  shifted from commencing tomorrow in the state at the request of a top official of the commission who was said to have travelled  abroad.

Many officials of the NPC  in the Lagos office, during a visit by Sunday Vanguard, wondered why the fact that a top official was out of the country would stall a national programme in the state ahead of the next census.

But beyond the claim that the EAD may not start  in the state, some  officials who spoke accused the top official of high handedness and abuse of office.

For instance, the officials alleged  that the NPC big wig instigated the removal of a subordinate who blocked the usage of government revenue (rent) that should have been paid to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as directed by the Buhari administration and promoted an official over about 53 officers to replace him.

“This is an anomaly and a breach of due process that is generating ripples in the Lagos office of the NPC”, an official who spoke anonymously said.

The official alleged that the big wig seemed to be representing a political interest different from that of the Buhari administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Meanwhile, the alleged abuse of office at the Lagos NPC office forced concerned officials to, through their local  union, write to their central union in Abuja to complain.

“The central union took the issue up with the NPC Headquarters in  Abuja which intervened and sent a tested  official to the Lagos office to put things in order, but we are not sure that the top official, who has travelled abroad and whose  trip is said to be capable of stalling the EAD, starting nationwide tomorrow, in Lagos, will allow him  to operate.”