By Okeoghene Akubuike
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says it will contribute its quota by providing the Federal Government with data and evidence to help tackle insecurity in the country.
The Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the NBS, Prince Semiu Adeniran, said this on the sidelines of the 45th Annual Statistical Conference in Keffi on Thursday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference has as its theme: ” Security Challenges in Nigeria and Associated Consequences: A Statistical Overview.”
Adeniran said the bureau was working on a new Crime and Security Survey in collaboration with the Nigerian Army,
According to him, the survey is expected to commence in 2023.
“It is going to be a household-based 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 their environment.
“We have quite some data available on security which we have provided for the Nigerian Army but that data is not national, it is only adopted in the North- East part of the country.
“So, we are planning to have a larger and national survey on crime and security.
“The idea of this initiative is to contribute to the solution of insecurity in the country by providing the government with important information and evidence that can assist in tackling the challenge.”
He said that apart from insecurity, the crime and security survey would also address the issue of victimisation and gender-based violence.
In his paper presentation titled: Consequences of Security Challenges on the National Statistical System in Nigeria, Adeniran said the spate of insecurity in the country had profound negative effects on the general macroeconomic and socioeconomic conditions in the country.
He said no sector or group of persons was immune from the effects of insecurity in the country, adding that it affected the statistical system both directly and indirectly.
“So, in direct terms, you are looking at the safety of lives and equipment, disruptions to the field processes which have significant financial implications and possible data quality issues, if not properly checked.
“The statistical system suffers indirectly also by its inability to produce adequate, reliable and timely statistics for proper policy design, implementation, and monitoring.”
The NBS boss said the bureau had taken some measures to address the issue of insecurity in the country, one of which includes adopting the use of technology.
“We established a call centre at the headquarters through which we now conduct phone surveys. Using this platform, we can collect data in inaccessible and hard-to-reach areas when necessary.”
The statistician-general said other measures taken using technology to mitigate the effects of insecurity include remote data monitoring for quality assurance.
“Using digital Enumeration Area (EA) Maps with GPS coordinates, we can monitor the movement of field staff within the selected EAs and review their submissions while they are still in the EAs.
“This has significantly reduced the need for physical monitoring from officers at the headquarters, and the entire fieldwork period can be observed remotely while ensuring the quality of the returns from the field.”
He said the bureau also engaged local community guides for its survey exercises, usually provided by the local communities, saying it had helped reduce the hostile reception faced by the fieldworkers when they go to communities for data collection.
” We have also introduced a new module on security awareness into our survey training, which was designed by professional security personnel.
“This model provides information that will assist the fieldworkers on how to be conscious and aware of any environment they enter to collect data, and how to approach security issues when they arise in the field. ”
The Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra in his presentation said the spate of insecurity had affected preparations for the 2023 Census like other sectors of our national life.
Kwarra, represented by the Director-General, NPC, Mr Ojogun Osifo, however, said the insecurity had not stopped the march toward the next census.
He said due to insecurity, the commission had not been able to demarcate two out of the 774 LGAs in the country.
“The two LGAs affected are Birni Gwari in Kaduna State, occasioned by cases of banditry and Abadam in Borno State due to Boko Haram insurgency.
“Following consultations with the respective State Governments and the security agencies, the demarcation of these LGAs has commenced and the exercise will be concluded well ahead of the 2023 Census. ”
Kwarra said that with proper planning and operational deployment as done in successive elections, the census could be conducted in Nigeria.
“Our optimism in this regard is reinforced by the patriotic roles of the traditional institutions and security agencies.
“They have provided adequate security cover for the Enumeration Area Demarcation, first and second pretests and trial census in their various communities during the exercise. ” (NAN)
