The latest survey report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the World Bank shows improvement in the retail and sales sector from 22% to 24 % and manufacturing from 6.5% to 7.7% from the 2012/13 round of the survey.
The survey also reveals the resilience of Nigerians in developing coping mechanism in times of economic shocks.
The General Household Survey (GHS) – Panel which launched today is a nationally representative survey that contains detailed information on household socioeconomic and income generating activities. The NBS administers the GHS-Panel survey every 2 years, working with the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Team, on a sub-sample of the 5,000 GHS households first surveyed in 2010. The GHS-Panel data is collected in two visits designed to coincide with major periods of the main agriculture season (post-planning and post-harvest). Two rounds of survey have been implemented so far: 2010/11 and 2012/13. This data launch is for the 2012/13 round of the survey and the data and documentation “goes live” (be online) today.
At the Launch, the Country Director of the World Bank in Nigeria, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly commended the Government for recognizing the importance of statistics in development and improving statistical data in the country. She said the World Bank and partners would continue to support the National Bureau of Statistics to produce high quality data for the country and Africa as a whole.
“Statistics is an essential tool for the success of the transformation agenda,” said Maria Francoise Marie-Nelly at the Launch.
Using the GHS-Panel data, the World Bank will undertake a multi-year analytical work program on labor markets, social protection and welfare dynamics that will lead to the dissemination of a series of policy notes in 2014 and 2015. This work program is a main pillar of the World Bank’s Country Partnership Strategy for Nigeria (FY2014-FY2017) and is inspired by the Nigeria’s Transformation Agenda (TA), which includes a focus on job creation to address protracted problems of unemployment and reducing poverty. The work program has been developed in consultation with various World Bank’s sectors as well as country counterparts and development partners.
An innovative feature of the new data is that a number of key topics such as labor market dynamics, inequality and middle class formation are analyzed from different angles. Among these, are; the link between job creation and poverty reduction, and the link between household income diversification and the emergence of an embryonic Nigerian middle class.
Finally, and arguably the most important of the issues, is the crucial role of capacity building. Most of the analytical output is meant to be produced in close collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics. There is a strong emphasis, thus, on strengthening local skills and producing some of the analytical output jointly with NBS staff and with collaborators based in Nigeria.
