The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the general public to support its survey on the situation of women and children it is conducting, is brought to “ a successful end”.
Mr Sunday Ichedi, the Head, Public Affairs and International Relations Unit, NBS made the appeal on Wednesday in a statement.
Ichedi said that Nigeria had formally started the process of conducting the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS6)/National Immunisation Coverage Survey (NICS) with a virtual inaugural meeting of the National Steering Committee.
The global MICS programme was developed by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the 1990s as an international household survey programme.
The programme was developed to support countries in the collection of internationally comparable data on a wide range of indicators on the situation of children and women.
MICS surveys measure key indicators that allowed countries to generate data for use in policies and programmes, and to monitor progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other internationally agreed upon commitments.
“The National Steering Committee on MICS6/NICS appeals to the general public for their support in ensuring that the survey is brought to successful end.
“Nigeria has formally commenced the process of conducting the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS6)/National Immunisation Coverage Survey (NICS) with an inaugural meeting of the National Steering Committee virtually held on Sept. 15.
“The task of the committee is to oversee the whole process of MICS6/NICS 2020 to ensure that all activities concerning the survey are effectively carried out for a successful outcome,” he said.
Ichedi said that MICS was the largest source of statistically sound and internationally comparable data on women and children worldwide.
He said the data focused on issues such as health, education, child protection, water and sanitation, among others.
He added that the first round of MICS in Nigeria was conducted in 1995 by the then Federal Office of Statistics, “which is now NBS’’.
“Since its inception, a total of five rounds have been conducted with technical support mostly from UNICEF,’’ he said.
Members of the National Steering Committee were drawn from relevant ministries, departments and agencies of government and international partners, of which the NBS is the chair.
Members of the committee included National Population Commission; Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Education; and Ministry of Women Affairs.
Others are Ministry of Water Resources; Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development; Central Bank of Nigeria; and National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
Also Office of Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs; Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; Representatives of States Bureau of Statistics (Bauchi and Sokoto); and GAVI (Vaccine Alliance).
Finally, Melinda and Gates Foundation; UNICEF; United Nations Population Fund; Department for International Development (DFID); World Health Organisation; World Bank; and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“For more enquiries on this survey please contact Mr Adeyemi Adeniran, the Director of Real Sector and Household Statistics Department, NBS through the number: 08065646116,” he said. (NAN)
