Nigeria, Africa’s giant advancing backward
Census is very serious business as it requires the general mobilisation of the populace. In many cases, the nation is placed under an emergency. One of the earliest accounts of census was given by Dr Luke in his Gospel in which he wrote that Emperor Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of the Roman world, including colonized Israel(Luke 2:1-5). This general mobilisation required everyone to go to his own city to be counted. This was why Joseph and Mary, his betrothed wife, went up from Galilee to Bethlehem. It was during that obviously stressful journey, Mary had cramps, and because populations were on the move, the inns were overcrowded and the couple had to rest in a manger where Jesus was born. So, Jesus was counted as part of the important statistics required to run the Roman Empire. This account serves to illustrate the fact that census is serious business as, theoretically, it provides vital data, especially demographic, social, economic, migration and immigrati