Kaduna, Nigeria - Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) (northern chapter) has threatened to mobilise Christians to boycot the forthcoming national population census if religion and ethnicity are deleted from the programme questionnaires.
Speaking at a press confernce in Kaduna at the weekend, the northern CAN secretary, Elder Saidu Dogo, said the national secretariat of CAN had already endorsed the position.
Dogo explained that inclusion of religion in the census questionnaire would help to determine how many Nigerians belong to each of the religions in the country.
According to him, "CAN northern states insist that the National Population Commission should without further delay, include ethnicity and religion in the forthcoming national head count so that Nigerians and the world over will know the true position of the number of of adherents of of the different religions in Nigeria, as it is done all over the world.
"As for ethnicity, it is important that we know the number of tribal groupings in this country because the Christian community wants to help government in areas of education and health, by establishing schools and hospitals. The statistics will go a long way in assisting us make the proper projections.
"It is also a known fact that Nigerians residing in states other than their states of origin are discriminated against even though the are counted along to make the population of these states.
"CAN northern states calls on all Christians in Nigeria to pray for the success of the National Political Reform Conference, for unity and peaceful coexistence of all Nigerians."