The National Bureau of Statistics and Dr. Yemi Kale, a former statistician general, disagreed on the recently released unemployment figure of 4.1%.
According to Platinum Times, the NBS said on Thursday of last week that using the updated methodology, the unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2023 was 4.1%.
In response to the statistic, Kale criticized the NBS’s approach for generating the most recent unemployment figures during an interview on Arise Television on Monday.
According to him, 20 hours of work in Nigeria would produce the same amount of income as one hour of work in the US.
The purpose of data, according to Kale, is to provide policymakers with tools to address issues.
“The 20 hours(old methodology) was decided on because it was agreed that if you work for that duration, you might be able to generate enough income that equates to what working one hour in the US is. Then you have a bit more comparison.
“But policymakers can’t use it, and I must repeat that the most important use of data is to provide information for policy, not for international comparison. International comparison is good,” he said.
But, in a statement responding to Kale, the Head of the Communications and Public Relations Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, Wakili Ibrahim, said the new methodology aligned with international standards.
“The new methodology is internationally accepted. All our neighbouring countries in Africa are using the new methodology of one hour”, he said.
In the 2020 second quarter, NBS unemployment in Nigeria was 33.3 per cent.