The ministry of Labour and Employment has disagreed with the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS over alleged confusing employment statistics.
The latest statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on its website stated the unemployment rate as of the end of 2020 rose to 33.3% from 27.1% recorded as of Q2 2020, indicating that about 23,187,389 (23.2 million) Nigerians remain unemployed.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had disagreed with the fugures put forward by the Federal Government agency saying it does not conform with reality on ground given the employment generation programmes of the the government.
Speaking on Friday while receiving leadership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), stated there would be a virtual meeting fmbetween the Federal Government and the World Bank.
The meeting, according to the ministry via twitter, is to discuss modalities used by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) in gathering data for employment statistics.
Ngige said: “There has been a little confusion there as to the accuracy of data generated by the NBS. So, we want to align everything tomorrow (Thursday).
“The World Bank says the NBS methodology doesn’t conform to the global standard, especially the ILO format of arriving at such Employment Index.”
The Minister, who described the meeting as very important, recalled he had severally queried the employment statistics released by the NBS.
But the NBS, through its twitter handle, said that the World Bank did not dispute its employment statistics data collection as claimed by Ngige.
It tweeted: “The World Bank has denied making any such statement and rather together with the economic advisory committee affirmed its confidence, commendation, support and close working relationship with @nigerianstat. The World Bank can be contacted if in doubt.”
