The House of Representatives on Wednesday asked the Federal Government to immediately put a halt to plans to conduct national census in view of the rising cases of insecurity.

The House said the exercise should be suspended until the security situation improves while asking chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) to brief the House on the planned exercise.

Sponsor of the motion of urgent public importance, Rep Shehu Beji Barwa, told his colleagues if the exercise is allowed to go ahead, a lot of Nigerians will be denied the opportunity of being counted having been displaced by insurgency and insecurity across the land.