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From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Suspecting a backlash from economy experts and Nigerians, the Statistician General of the Federation (SG), Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, disclosed that the methodology used in the survey was in accordance with the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) new guidelines.
This, he said, was different from the old guidelines which contained some limitations. So, the new guidelines addressed those limitations.
According to him, the new standards recognised all forms of work carried out, whether paid or unpaid, and sought to integrate labour statistics with other topics such as Gross Domestic Products GDP (Labour Productivity).
These issues, amongst other limitations, the SG, said, formed the main crux of the reason why the new ILO guidelines were put out in 2013. Since then, more than 26 African countries have since adopted these new definitions and used them for in conducting their labour force surveys, following thorough process of pre-testing and piloting within their individual countries.
“The ILO 19th Integrated Corporate Services (ICLS) published in 2014 provided new guidelines to produce labour market statistics, which sought to address limitations with the previous ones by providing broader measures of labour under-utilisation beyond unemployment.
“The headline unemployment rate is not the only form of labour under-utilisation, other equally important forms exist and need to be produced to better inform government and policymakers on the realities of the labour situation in the country. The new standards recognised all forms of work carried out, whether paid or unpaid, and, sought to integrate labour statistics with other topics such as GDP (Labour Productivity). These issues, amongst other limitations formed the main crux of the reason why the new ILO guidelines were put out in 2013. Since then, more than 26 African countries have since adopted these new definitions and used them for in conducting their labour force surveys, following thorough process of pre-testing and piloting within their individual countries.
“From this brief history I have shared with you, it is evident that Nigeria is not the first to adopt this methodology, be it within Africa or beyond, if anything, this revision should have happened much earlier than now. Secondly, labour force surveys conducted by national statistical offices all over the world are conducted using ILO standards. This is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. In fact, the previous methodology was based on ILO guidelines published back in 1983 under the 13th ICLS. So, the need for a revision was long overdue, considering all the changes that have occurred since then within the labour market.
“Let me at this point clearly state that this methodology review has nothing to do with whitewashing the image of any government or political party. This process is routine for any responsible statistical office, and we have no reason to continue to ignore the adoption of new methods, when the evidence clearly indicates the need for it. As a national statistical office, our responsibility is to provide government and all users with accurate data for evidence-based decision making, adhering to the highest possible standards, and our commitment in this regard is unwavering” the SG further explained.
