By Aaron Ossai
Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran has called on the media to be accurate, objective and sound while reporting activities of the agency to help build the confidence and trust of the public in whatever data it releases.
Speaking at the Sensitisation Media Editors and Executives, he said as critical partners in the data production process of the National Bureau of Statistics, the media should become a strong voice and advocate of what is going on in the Bureau and within the Statistical System in Nigeria.
“We want your reportage to be accurate, objective, and sound, to help build the confidence and trust of the public in what we do. On our part, we will continue to remain objective, open, transparent, and professional in our work, as that is the only currency that we have as the national statistical agency for the country. Our door will ever remain open for clarity, input, and any other useful suggestions aimed at adding value to the work that we do”, he said.
The meeting focused on the Nigerian Living Standards Survey 2022/23 and the Rebasing of Gross Domestic Product and Consumer Prices Index, holding on the 24th of October 2024 carried out by the Bureau explaining that 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.
“For information and clarity, the NLSS is the survey under which the national poverty headline rate is generated, along with other useful household welfare, consumption, and expenditure indicators.
“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 percent.
“The methodology for computing the estimates requires enumerators to visit selected households across the country to record their consumption and expenditure, through a 7-day recall process.
“This data collection is done for a year to enable the capture of seasonal variations in household consumption and expenditure. The information collected at the end of the 12 months is then aggregated and appropriately weighted to generate the total national consumption.
“Households whose total consumption of both food and non-food falls below a certain threshold are then adjudged to be poor and living under the poverty line.On the other hand, the CPI rebasing entails bringing the weight and price reference periods closer to the current period (Current Consumption Pattern), which is expected to be done every five years”, he added.