Lagos Colony was merged into the Southern Nigeria Protectorate in 1906, and the 1911 census nominally covered that combined area.
[1] However, this census was highly contentious because its results would determine parliamentary representation, revenue allocation, and how many employees the civil service would hire from each state.
Since the north was considered dominant in Nigerian politics at the time, the 1962 census was especially heavily publicised by southern politicians.
The government ordered a second census to take place in 1963, with the result that "an additional 8.5 million people were discovered in the north".
It was the first census to include a housing component, and it was also the first to use GPS and satellite data as well as machine-readable forms.
Once the preliminary census figures were published in early 2007, several state governments contested the official numbers.
As of January 2023, it was estimated that almost 800,000 workers would be involved in taking the census, processing its results, and other related roles.
[5] The 2006 census, for example, collected information on things like age, sex, occupation, literacy, employment, housing, and access to water, electricity, and other household amenities.