The Statistician General of the Federation and CEO, National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, yesterday explained why the agency could not afford to churn out inaccurate and wrong data.
This is as Adeniran said the current administration has never interfered with activities of the agency despite the release of unfavourable data on inflation rate and others, noting that the agency is not working to favour any government but follows global best practices in it approach.
Adeniran, who spoke at a dialogue with media executives on rebasing of Consumer Price Index (CPI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Nigeria Living Standards Survey (NLSSI) stressed: “the issue of or the notion of producing data to favour governments does not arise.
My submission here, who are we helping, if we have to play to favour government? Is it the government itself that we are supporting or we are helping? If we are giving them wrong data, for any government that wants to do a good job, that wants to improve or uplift the welfare of the citizens, is it by giving them wrong data that we are helping them? No, that cannot be”
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“When we turn out figures, they are not just mere figures, but they are things that are happening to the citizens in the country. Those figures represent the feelings, the aspirations of what is happening to our people in our country. So those figures have a lot of importance, and they carry weight, because that is the only way by which government can plan, by which they can come up with programs, by which they can come up with policies, by which they can come up with projects that will address what is happening to the citizens in the country.
On the current administration reaction to the agency work, NBS boss said, “And let me say that this present government that we are in, what I observe is that they want to use data.”
“If you know the CDCU, Central Delivery Coordinating Unit, they give each agency KPI, Key Performance Indicator, to deliver, and they are measuring their performance every quarter. They call them and give them their scores. And they are using data to do that.
On the expected report of rebasing of CPI, GDP and NLSS, Adeniran said,said the surveys had been on for some time now and would be taking input from all the stakeholders before coming out with final result.
The NLSS provides invaluable insights into household welfare, consumption, and expenditure, enabling us to measure the national poverty headline rate and other essential indicators. The rebasing of GDP and CPI ensures that our economic data aligns with international best practices and captures the dynamic sectors and activities within our economy.
This year-long survey is conducted every four to five years, with the penultimate round conducted in 2018/2019, and published in 2020, which produced a headline poverty rate of 40.1 per cent.
