We have a faulty statistical system in nigeria which i feel is responsible for improper planning and allocation of resources, non development of the country, and massive fraud. Can u believe that we don't have statistics dept or offices in our 774 or so local govt areas in nigeria. U can also find out for urself too.

We have a lot of maths, stats, comp sc, and econs graduates without jobs. Why cant govt employ them to help in data collection and processing in all local govt and sectors? It may be very expensive but it will help govt a lot.

National Bureau of Statistics also is a joke (at least their website is). Each time I turn to them for data I return disappointed. For example, I was trying to find out the number of secondary (public) in a particular state and I downloaded a pdf document with the info from their site, the disparity from year to year didn't just make sense. Hence I knew the info couldn't be trusted. Check out this screenshot taken today 22/01/2012 from NBS website. How can the number of schools (secondary) In Lagos drop from 350 in 1994 to 79 in 1998?. That was just a random check. As this does not make logical sense, how can one believe other data if something as empirical as this can't be done correctly.

http://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/index.php/report

@Nugwax that's exactly my problem with NBS, senseless and illogical figures which were cooked and fabricated by them. They dont get to carry out surveys as expected cos of lack of qualified man power and inadequate funds. The statistical system needs overhauling as well as having offices in each LGA headquarters in nigeria. Govt should also employ more qualified statisticians to collect and process data efficiently and on time . Also heard that the stat-gen of nigeria is an economist and not a trained statistician. It's funny.

OP, you have made a very important observation. We need to have the correct data about our country for us to even understand our problems. It ties in to everything; security, health, elections, education, allocation of resources / projects etc. Take the recent subsidy removal issue for instance. We cannot as a nation quantify the amount of PMS consumed daily. It's all linked to the same issue.

Musiwa aka becomerich has always been mentioning the use of satellite imagery for population estimation. He is very right. There are ways by which we can harness satellite data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for data collection. We can study population density, migration patterns, growth rate, etc using this system.

We have a very long way to go.

@efisher. Thanx for ur contribution. Until we get a good statistical system in nigeria that will involve the use of GIS technology and the physical or direct methods of data collection (in areas like finance and petroleum it must be physical/direct) there will always be fraud in nigeria. We should have statisticians and economists that can build very robust models that can be used to describe economic growth and forecast future demand/sales or income with minimum standard errors. With such models they will be able to keep track of activities in most vital sectors of the economy, and this will reduce fraud significantly.

Let's be clear, there are political reasons why different tiers of government (LG all the way up to FG) have always refused to keep working statistics hitherto.

@eGuerrilla. They have refused for no other reason than to perpetrate fraud without leaving any evidence that can be used to track their frauds. Typical example is the approximate quantity of daily pms consumption and total pms imported into the country in 2011 which even the petroleum minister could not tell nigerians. Just like accounting & auditing, taking & keeping proper statistics as well as proper application of statistical methods/techniques can also help to some extent to uncover fraud in any system if properly applied.

zebra:

@Nugwax that's exactly my problem with NBS, senseless and illogical figures which were cooked and fabricated by them. They dont get to carry out surveys as expected cos of lack of qualified man power and inadequate funds. The statistical system needs overhauling as well as having offices in each LGA headquarters in nigeria. Govt should also employ more qualified statisticians to collect and process data efficiently and on time . Also heard that the stat-gen of nigeria is an economist and not a trained statistician. It's funny.

I don't believe its the lack of manpower. There is not just the will, for obvious political reasons, to ensure we have proper statistical system.

@muyoto. I believe statistics is ignored for political reasons. But it all boils down to them commiting fraud with out any evidence to disprove them.

I really believe this attitude of ignoring statistics is a political thing. That is why like i said b4, the qualified man power is not there and govt dont pump in enof funds for them to utilize. Maintaining a good statistical system is actually very expensive.

zebra:

I really believe this attitude of ignoring statistics is a political thing. That is why like i said b4, the qualified man power is not there and govt dont pump in enof funds for them to utilize. Maintaining a good statistical system  is actually very expensive.

We are, in a sense, saying the same thing.
The idea of collating working statistics would, at the very least, expose corruption and inefficiency within our polity.
It is primarily for this reason, I feel, that successive governments have done little to promote a tradition of record keeping.

What I find even more disparaging, though, is that the private sector has shown itself to be no better in this area.

@eGuerrilla. It is true. Even the private sector dont keep proper records so that they can easily commit fraud and get away with it without being noticed. Corruption is just it. It's sad my brother.

We can debate day and night, but the real truth is that CORRUPTION has turned everything in Nigeria upside down. Remove corruption and we will start generating accurate statistics and data in all sectors.

diluminati:

We can debate day and night, but the real truth is that CORRUPTION has turned everything in Nigeria upside down. Remove corruption and we will start generating accurate statistics and data in all sectors.

Do you know of any country that can be described as corruption-free in the real sense?
Just one will do.

eGuerrilla:

Do you know of any country that can be described as corruption-free in the real sense?
Just one will do.

I know a country that is corruption ridden in the real sense and thats Nigeria!

No country is totally free from corruption. The level of corruption is minimal in some coumtries like singapore while in others it is at the maximum level, like nigeria. If corruption can be reduced it means we will be able to keep reliable records to some extent.

We need to have a good statistical system to able to tackle fraud in nigeria.

@OP

You can not create a leopard out of a goat. Most Nigerians are steely funny. What the hell do you think Nigeria is? Nigeria is a practical joke. I had wished it does not exist.

simple national id is not work, no national data base,, Nigeria is a world getho not a nation.

Data are never cooked in NBS, The problem is that most people don't give correct information when a survey is being conducted so the figures u see are based on the response got from those interviewed. Nothing is fabricated, think of it this way, some times if u ask a man of over 60 years how old he is, he would tell u he is 45yrs even if u can see he is over 60 from his looks u cannot do otherwise than to write what he has said. So this problem can only be solved if people start being sincere with the information they give.

@OP

Have you ever physically been to their office to ask for data before? Please answer this question sincerely. To my knowledge, from the website alone - there are a lot of information. Because you noticed an error or because they dont have offices in each local government doesnt mean they are not doing anything. Try to be objective sir.

http://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/

@Op, correct statistic in nigeria??

Almost impossible.

nigeria is not a serious country.

What happens to the National identification system for the citizens? Please, it needs to be thoroughly addressed! What country is so backward without using the national ID for social security?

I don't know what is wrong with the leaders of that nation!!!

We really need a good statistics system and the private sector can help in this regard too.

NOTHING LOGICAL WORKS IN THIS COUNTRY, IT IS NOT LIMITED TO HER STATISTICAL CASE ALONE. www.therealinsurance.com

@poster
Do you think these faulty statistics are accidental
That's how corruption, cheating, marginalization, and all sorts of bad things are carried out.
Welcome to post Independence Nigeria.

i looked for data from them last year and could not get what i wanted. I had to go CBN  and nnpc to get it. I also have worked with them as an IT student so i can tell u about all the data cooking and nonsense they do there.

very very faulty,
as an IT personnel, i face problems in getting proper records from governmental agencies in order to provide an e-solution to common day-to-day activities.

Giving the task of statistics to the private sector could change things and help reduce corruption.

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There is need for a body to be set up for collation of information in that country. How will a nation progress without good statistic?