By Emmanuel Elebeke
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS has commenced the process for the Gross Domestic Product, GDP and Consumer Price Index, CPI rebasing exercises, and for the first time the Living Standards Survey (NLSS) 2022/23.
The Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer, National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, disclosed this at the Stakeholders’ Engagement Workshop on Living Standards Survey (NLSS) 2022/23 and the ongoing Rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Consumer Prices Index (CPI) estimates held in Abuja.
He stated that the workshop was put together not only to sensitize experts, users, and critical stakeholders of the Statistical System on the methodology and process of the survey but also, to solicit their inputs and expert advice in interrogating the processes and methodology adopted by the Bureau.
According to him, the overall goal of the workshop was to ensure that the approaches used in the implementation of these important exercises (the NLSS and the Rebasing of GDP and CPI) are sound, based on international best practices, and relevant to the Nigerian context.
He said, “The output of the process will reflect an accurate picture of living conditions and the state of the economy in Nigeria, enhance the understanding of emerging sectors and economic activities, and satisfy the needs of all users of the data.
“For NBS, the engagements was necessary aspect of the data production process. One of the United Nations fundamental principles of official statistics is Accountability and Transparency, and this is one of the ways by which NBS ensures that the processes are open and transparent.
By doing so, we promote and enhance the credibility of the system and build confidence in what we do in NBS.”
“It is also another way of ensuring inclusivity, promoting collaboration, and engendering partnership throughout the process of these exercises, and the NBS’s wider data production.
The three topics being addressed today, NLSS, GDP, and CPI, though appear to be quite technical concepts, and their computations, even more so, their effect however, is very easily felt across the board by citizens.
“Most particularly, on vulnerable citizens. So, it is extremely important, that as much as possible, we subject the computation and estimation processes to as much rigour as possible. So that the accuracy and acceptance of the numbers by all will not be in any doubt.
“This engagement is just one in a series of engagements that will happen as we build up to the launch of the results at a later date,” he said.
The SG then charged all the participants to integrate and engage constructively with the presentations that will be made and help ensure a more robust and comprehensive outcome for the NLSS survey and the rebasing processes.
“Our experience in recent times has shown that we have no other option than to continue to engage and foster partnerships with all constituents of the statistical system for better results.
“Our statistics are not only consumed domestically, but they are also equally utilized by international institutions and potential investors, eager to understand the economic landscape we inhabit. So, the imperative for getting these exercises right in a manner that satisfies international standards, and our local context cannot be overemphasized.
“At the culmination of these exercises, critical stakeholders will be invited again to a validation session where the preliminary results will be displayed and deliberated before the final public dissemination.”
The engagement saw the gathering of experts, members of the directorate, and staff of the National Bureau of Statistics.
It was the second major engagement the Bureau will be having for expert stakeholders under the ongoing process for the GDP and CPI rebasing exercises, but it is the first for the NLSS 2022/23.
The NLSS is the survey under which the national poverty headline rate is generated, along with other useful household welfare, consumption, and expenditure indicators.
The 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.
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