Hundreds of recruits for Nigeria’s upcoming census went on the rampage over wages and burnt down local council offices in thecountry’s north, police said Saturday.
Katsina state police spokesman said local census officials in Dutsin-Ma town, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of provincial capital Katsina city went on a violent spree Friday after founding out they were getting less money than their national counterparts.
“All the offices of key (local) officials were gutted by fire, set by the enumerators protesting differences in allowances between those recruited by the National Population Commission (NPC) and the local government,” Adamu Yusuf told AFP.
Yusuf said 30 people were arrested after the incident and that no injuries had been reported. Nigeria was gearing up over the weekend for a national census which some fear could reignite ethnic, regional and religious tensions that threaten to tear the country apart.
Preparations for the March 21 to 25 exercise, the first independent census since 1991, have already laid bare many of the deep rifts in Nigerian society that have fuelled a seven-year-old wave of unrest that has left 20,000 dead.
President Olusegun Obasanjo is determined to find out just how many Nigerians there are — estimates range from between 120 and 150 million — despite fierce opposition from various powerful vested interests.