By Tony Obiechina Abuja
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday released its first prices data compiled through a groundbreaking crowd-sourcing initiative.
This innovative approach to data collection marks a significant milestone in the NBS’s efforts to provide timely and accurate statistical information to policymakers, researchers, and the general public.
In a statement by NBS Head of Public Relations Folorunso Alesanmi the crowd-sourcing initiative, which started several months ago, aims to compile prices data on a daily basis from a wide range of sources, including open markets, supermarkets, neighbourhood shops, bulk and discount stores, street outlet and Large Shops.
According to the statement, data collection was done in all the 36 states, FCT and in all the Senatorial districts.
“By leveraging the power of crowd-sourcing, the Bureau has been able to collect a vast amount of data that will help to provide a more accurate picture of price movements in the economy.
“We are thrilled to release our first prices data compiled through crowd-sourcing,” said Prince Adeniran, Statistician-General of the Federation.
“This initiative represents a major step forward in our efforts to harness the power of technology and innovation to improve the quality and timeliness of our statistical data”, it further stated.
According to the statement, “the data released today provides insights into prices of essential food items such as Rice (Local), Beans (White), Maize (White), Garri, Yam, etc commonly consumed by Nigerians, offering a snapshot of daily food costs. The NBS plans to update this data on a daily basis, equipping entrepreneurs, policymakers and researchers with a valuable tool for tracking price movements and informing decision-making.
“The crowd-sourced data is accessible to the public through a dedicated public dashboard, where users can view, analyze, and download the data in real-time, further enhancing transparency and accessibility.
“The National Bureau of Statistics’ crowd-sourcing initiative aims to modernize data collection, providing timely and accurate statistics. The Bureau hereby invites citizens to participate by submitting price data and feedback to build a robust statistical system for a rapidly changing economy.
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“NBS is committed to ensuring the quality and accuracy of the data collected through crowd-sourcing. To this end, the agency has implemented a range of quality control measures, including data validation and verification processes, to ensure that the data is reliable and trustworthy.
“The release of the crowd-sourced prices data is a significant achievement for the NBS and demonstrates the agency’s commitment to innovation and collaboration. By working together with citizens and leveraging technology, the NBS is able to provide more timely and accurate statistical information that will help to drive economic growth and development.
The statement however, noted that there is the need to stress that the prices data compiled through crowd-sourcing is not the same with the ones compiled for Consumer Price Index(CPI); Prices data for CPI computation are collected on a specific or predetermined outlets every second and third week of the month. But, prices data collected via crowd-sourcing are collected randomly from different respondents everyday.
“As we engage in this collaborative effort with the public, we welcome feedback from stakeholders that will propel us for improvement”, it added.
