Follow Us on Google
From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
As the national security appears very intricate and intractable, the security managers have devised other novel strategies to tackle the hydra-headed monster.
One of such initiatives is using data to mitigate insecurity, banditry, terrorism and criminal behaviours in the country.
As the foremost data- producing agency in Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was given the arduous task to conduct a survey next year with a view to ending the menace of insecurity once and for all.
Apart from the socio-economic dislocation which the condition has created, insecurity has constituted a bane in the smooth conduct of national surveys in Nigeria to the extent that fieldworkers or data collectors cannot do their job effectively.
Also, the survey will solve the long-standing issue of gender violence and victimisation, a new development that’s fast catching up with the society.
In a conversation with the Statistician General of the Federation (SG), Prince Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, other national disputations were unravelled such as the poverty question (in connection with Transparency International), the credibility of NBS data and rising level of inflation.
Excerpts:
Insecurity is taking a centre stage in our national discourse now. Is there a way data can be used to curb banditry?
“We are working on a new Security and Crime Survey, which we expect to commence in 2023. The idea of this initiative is to contribute to the solution of insecurity in the country by providing government with important information and evidence that can assist in tackling the challenge.
It is my firm belief that the security situation will improve in the short to medium-term, given the capacity for which our security agencies are known to have, and recent successes being recorded. We will however, as a responsible co-ordinator of the statistical system, continue to review the situation and put measures in place to guarantee the safety of all our personnel and equipment, while ensuring we fulfil our statutory mandate of producing and disseminating data for all our users. Though daunting, I know that working together, with the commitment, passion and hard work statisticians are known for, we can, and we will achieve this goal.
“We are planning to conduct the survey in conjunction and collaboration with the Nigerian army. The survey is called Crime and Security Survey. It is going to be a household survey where we are going to visit a selected sample of households across the country to ask them about the security situation in their neighbourhood and in their environment. That’s what we are planning. The Nigerian military wrote to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to find a way by which they can use data to restrategise on the approaches to find the menace of insecurity in the country. When they wrote to us we searched through our data archives and data bases. We have quite some data available on security which we have provided for them in the past. But that data is not national. It’s only conducted in the north eastern part of the country. We are planning to have a larger national survey on crime and security.
When do we expect it?
The plan is to have it conducted in 2023 but the availability of funds will determine the exact time that we are going to start.
What other specific things will the survey solve apart from insecurity?
Apart from insecurity the Crime and Security Survey will be able to address the issue of victimisation and gender-based violence. These and some other key indicators will be derived from the survey.
35 million will be out of poverty in 2025. Can you throw more light on this?
That is stated in the National Development Plan (2021-2025). Part of the achievements we are going to get from the current National Development Plan (NDP) signed by President Muhammadu Buhari is to lift 35 million persons out of poverty by the year 2025. The president has already made a declaration to take 100 million out of poverty by the year 2030.
It’s a journey towards that commitment of 100 million that we are planning that through the full implementation of 2021- 2025 National Development Plan (NDP), the government should be able to lift 35 million persons out of poverty.
Is the NBS working in collaboration with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to achieve this?
One thing about data systems in National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is that various relevant stakeholders, collaborate with them to do all our data production. We don’t do it alone. We always operate with all agencies of government and private sectors to achieve our mandate.
How can you convince Nigerians that your data are credible in the face of insecurity?
One thing about sample survey which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is conducting is that it’s different from census which the National Population Commission (NPoC) is doing. Our own is to estimate from our result for the population. Wherever we cannot visit designated places, we always state in the report. There is nothing wrong if we are not able to visit all that we planned to visit. What is important in official statistics is that you must state specifically that the results for this particular state should be used with caution because we are not able to visit these and these particular areas. So, that’s how’s done. But as much as possible we will try all possible means to visit all our respondents. At the end of the day, if you don’t have enough in your data, the estimate you are going to have may be faulty. So, as I said earlier, we work with local guards, with community leaders, and most importantly in the north east, we work with the military to get to our respondents.
How many staff of NBS have been kidnapped, attacked?
I cannot give a specific number now. It is not all the time that we have our staff kidnapped. It happened in Katsina where the bandits kidnapped some of our enumerators in one of our surveys but the community, knowing the importance of why we were there rallied round and communicated with the bandits and the staff were released.
In 2018, Transparency International rated Nigeria the poverty capital of the world. How did it arrive at the data?
Transparency International does not conduct survey in Nigeria. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) conducts surveys in Nigeria to measure poverty. We do this through surveys. The Nigerian Living Standard Survey (NLSS) which uses the monetary measures to measure poverty and the multi-dimensional poverty index survey which uses deprivation as household survey to measure poverty. These are the two authentic measures of poverty in Nigeria. The Transparency International just interviewed people and looked for administrative data to come up with their result. And people have been criticising the method that they used to achieve their results.
