….17-year census data obsolete, unreliable in national planning

By Peter Okutu, Abakaliki

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, RPCN, yesterday counselled Nigerians not to sell their voters’ cards or votes, no matter the amount politicians wish to pay for it, ahead of the 2023 general election.

The Secretary General of RPCN, Rev. Cornelius Eke, who stated this in his New Year sermon at the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Redemption Congregation, Abakaliki Parish in Ebonyi State, stressed that “Your voters’ card is your birthright and power, use it wisely to install a credible government so that you will not live in regret for the next four years; do not sell it no matter how much the politicians price it.

“Do not to sell your voters’ card or their votes, so as not to be like Esau in the Bible who sold his birth right for a paltry pot of porridge and suffered the consequences thereafter.”

He noted that this year’s election was crucial and required the participation of all registered voters to ensure that the right candidates were elected.

Rev. Eke described 2023 as a defining year for the country as it is both election and census year.

He counselled Church members in Nigeria to participate actively in politics, so that credible candidates who will salvage and rescue Nigeria would emerge in the next polls.

On the 2023 Census, the clergyman said it is a milestone in that it would be the first time in more than a decade that the actual population of Nigeria would be known, adding that it would usher in proper planning in all facets of governance.

“If you refuse to be counted, it means you don’t count in Nigeria, so you must present yourself and family to be counted when the time comes, so that you will count in Nigeria.”

Rev. Eke noted that the 17-year census data was not only obsolete but unreliable in national planning, adding that with new census data to emerge later in the year, it would help the government to plan with certainty instead of estimations.

He prayed that 2023 would usher in open doors, new opportunities, progress, blessings, plenty and prosperity to Nigerians, who build their trust and dependence on God only and advised that people should not dwell in the past or allow themselves to be distracted by irrelevances.