The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced it’s collaboration with World Bank to launch the National Census of Commercial Industrial Businesses (NCCIB).
Yemi Kale, Statistician-General of Nigeria said that the census is to serve as a medium to generate relevant information to aid effective monitoring and evaluation of the current Government’s economic blueprint, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at the Stakeholders sensitization workshop on NCCIB, Kale explained that Nigeria as a developing economy needs a robust and reliable statistical information to be able to manage critical sectors such as Education, Health, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, Environment, to mention but a few.
He said “As a way of guaranteeing the quality and integrity of the information emanating from the exercise, the National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank will deploy the use of modern information Communication Technology (ICT) at every stage of the conduct of the Census”.
The Statistician-General speaking further, noted that the forum is intended to instill a high sense of ownership and inclusion in our quest to provide government and other users of statistics with adequate, reliable and timely statistical information for evidence-based policy formulation.
“To attain sustainability in the generation of quality and timely statistics, there is need for sustained cooperation and collaboration of all relevant stakeholders ranging from the data producing agencies to the supplier of information and to the user”.
“We are in an era where statistics and information technology has become inevitable tools in the management of businesses and the general economy. For this reason, it has become necessary now than ever before to collaborate with Association like yours with a view to improving the quantum and quality of statistics needed for planning, policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation of government programmes and projects”.
He further stressed that the cencus is to aid effective tracking of the growth of the economy and the contribution of all relevant sectors as it is designed to complement other important surveys such the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHS), General Household Survey-Panel; and the Nigeria Living Standard Survey (NLSS).
“In specific terms, the Census will help us to provide answers to questions such as: How many business enterprises do we have in each State of the Federation, where are these businesses located, what is the employment strength of these businesses as well as the capacity utilization of these businesses”.
”It will also help us to determine the structure of enterprises in Nigeria by sectors and the spread across the States and all the 774 LGAs. In addition, the census will further help us to classify Businesses into micro, small, medium and large establishments”.
Cynthia Egboboh
