A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the National Population Commission (NPC) to disclose expenditure details related to the suspended 2023 population census within seven days.

Recall that the exercise, initially scheduled to take place in 2022, was postponed to 2023 before being again shifted to November 2024.

The NPC had also disclosed that a total of N200 billion was expended on preparation for the census, but after refusing to provide the details of expenditure through a Freedom of Information Act filed, an Abuja-based lawyer, Opatola Victor, dragged the commission to court.

He also requested compensation of N500,000 for the breach of his rights by NPC.

In his judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the NPC’s refusal to release records of spending on the aborted census was wrongful, illegal, and unconstitutional.

He dismissed the defendant’s claim that bureaucracy and the absence of the executive chairman were to blame for withholding the requested records.

The court, however, declined to award the requested N500,000 in favour of the plaintiff as stated in the lawsuit.