A former federal lawmaker, Shehu Sani, has slammed the National Population Commission (NPC) over its request for nearly a trillion naira to conduct a national census, describing it as sheer madness.

The NPC had proposed a budget of N942 billion for the national housing and population census scheduled for this year.

However, reports indicated that President Bola Tinubu turned down the request, instead considering the deployment of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members for the exercise.

Reacting to the development, Sani, in a post on X on Saturday, applauded Tinubu for rejecting the proposal outright.

“National Population Commission request for almost a trillion naira just to count the number of Nigerians is total madness.

“The rejection of their budget is commendable,” Shehu Sani wrote on his verified page.