Experts chide FG over disparaging comment on NBS

By Sunday Michael Ogwu, Faruk Shuaibu (Abuja) Christiana T. Alabi (Lagos)   Financial experts have described as scandalous and unacceptable, the several attempts by the federal government to discredit the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) over unfavourable indices. The experts’ reactions followed comments by the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Public Affairs, […]

By Sunday Michael Ogwu, Faruk Shuaibu (Abuja) Christiana T. Alabi (Lagos)

 

Financial experts have described as scandalous and unacceptable, the several attempts by the federal government to discredit the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) over unfavourable indices.

The experts’ reactions followed comments by the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, who said the National Bureau of Statistics oftentimes get it wrong with the data it gives out for public consumption

Ngelale, who made the remarks while featuring on Trust TV’s Daily Politics on Wednesday, said the bureau usually gives out the wrong figure when stating statistics of unemployed adults in the country.

He said the figures neglect those in the informal sector as such can be questioned.

“I am not trying to deflect from the challenges we have. Poverty is a problem, job creation is something that we still have a lot and we are working towards, even though we have made more progress towards that than any previous administration combined.

“The statistician general told us that we have a handful of NBS staff. Go to the NBS yourself and see what their employment roll looks like, how many staff do they have to be able to send out to the nooks and crannies of the entire Nigerian federation. They send out a handful of people state by state… To count all the business and head, you think that is done. I can tell you from the mouth of the statistician general that is not being done.”

Recall that in 2018, Garba Shehu, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, and Yemi Kale, the then Statistician-General of the Federation, had disagreed over methods of tracking job creation and unemployment numbers in Nigeria.

Speaking on Channels TV Sunrise Daily, Shehu said Yemi Kale told the Federal Executive Council that the NBS concentrates on white-collar jobs when preparing its jobs report.

Shehu said: “So, I think the data collected on the basis of which some of the judgment has been passed that is misleading.

“The data has been unfair to this administration; they had ignored job creation in the area of agriculture. If you are talking about job losses, no, we have created at least 12m new jobs in the area of agriculture.”

When the claims were brought to the attention of the then NBS chief on Twitter, he said he made no such submissions to anybody at any time.

“The unemployment computations do take into account all sectors, age groups, and both rural and urban areas,” Kale said.

Reacting to the latest claim by Ngelale, A forensic Accountant and Managing Director of Qeeva Advisory Limited, Matthew Ogagavworia said: “This government seems to thrive on propaganda and unfortunately, they also believe their own lies.

“The unemployment data that they are not comfortable with is merely an indication of what government can do in terms of its revenue and expenditure. They have to think of how to engage this population productively so that they can be taxed to contribute to the revenue base.”

He said the government rage about the NBS not being adequately staffed is scandalous, unacceptable and annoying because the same government has a duty to ensure that all its agencies are adequately staffed to perform optimally.

He contended that the NBS uses a particular methodology, which is stated in their report and not a single content global agency has faulted that methodology.

Similarly, The Founder and Chairman of Proshare, Olufemi Awoyemi said: “I do believe that the NBS has put in place a system to provide a fair view of where the country is headed.

“Up to last year, no one doubted the figures from the NBS especially as it compares to the reality that we have seen on the ground.”

Olufemi who has had a distinguished career of involvement in many initiatives, associations, academia and developmental activities including services to the Securities & Exchange Commission’s Capital Market Committee (CMC) on FinTech Roadmap for Nigeria contended that the NBS use enumeration and work in partnership organisation that has a presence in the places where these data are sourced.

Reacting to the NBS not having adequate manpower to cover the country, he said, “It is about sampling, not a census. The NBS is not conducting the census.”

He said in the last few months, there have been concerns about the disconnect between the report on inflation and the reality on the ground and it coincided with the change in leadership at the NBS so maybe that needs to be investigated.

“But, it will take a quantum leap of good evidence to suggest that they are not doing the correct thing. A lot of work has gone into building the reputation of that agency. 

Talking about NBS not capturing the informal sector, Awoyemi said: “The conversation about the informal sector is an ongoing line of inquiry. The question really is, they are informal to who/ certainly not the local government officials who collect taxes from them or the corporate affairs Commission who register them or even the banks that lend to them.

“It is like saying that Nigerians are not paying enough taxes when in fact they are overburdened by multiple taxations.

“However, when put into context, sometimes, it is not to question the persons who raise these concerns, it goes to show how there is not enough understanding around how these things are done.”

According to Mustapha Hussain Olarewaju (FCA), the Managing Partner/CEO of MHOA & Co Chartered Accountants; it is not unlikely, saying it is possible.

However, the tax expert pointed out that the error level may not warrant material difference from the current realities.

He said, “the process of data generation, validation, analysis and reporting in Nigeria is sub-optimal due to inadequate facility and human capacity. To a large extent, NBC data has been reflective of our nation’s performance indicators.”

Olarewaju however stressed the need for conscious accelerated development of the nation’s data sector for NBC accurate data.

When contacted on its position, the Head, Public Affairs & International Relations Unit in the National Bureau of Statistics of NBS, Ichedi, Sunday Joel, said he is aware of the statement but would make an official response later in the day.

 “Yes, we are aware of the statement but we will get in touch with you later in the day, we are studying the reactions.”

The NBS reaction did not reach Daily Trust at the time of going to press.