Groups Speak on Providing Alternative After NBS Website Hack
- The Nigerian Marketing Research Association declared intention to provide an alternative to private sector economic statistics
- It said that the NBS website hack just serves to highlight how much more private practitioners in the data analytics field need to do
- The necessity of making more datasets available to the public and other socioeconomic classification data, was emphasized by NIMRA
Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
In the wake of the National Bureau of Statistics website hack, the Nigerian Marketing Research Association has announced that it will offer an alternative to economic statistics from the private sector.
Source: Getty Images
The NBS website has been unavailable since December 18, 2024.
In a phone conversation, NIMRA President Seyi Adeoye informed PUNCH that the incident demonstrated the necessity of private sector involvement in supplying economic data alongside the NBS to support business and government decision-making.
Adeoye said,
“The NBS website hack just shows that it is important for private practitioners within the data analytics space to do a lot more and also collaborate more closely with NBS and with all the global organisations also interested in having data about Nigeria and the economy, like the World Bank.”
He condemned the NBS website hack while acknowledging it gave urgency to the need for alternatives.
“What happened with NBS just totally brought it to the fore and in our face more, that this cannot be the case. It’s not ideal. It’s not what is obtainable in other climes; we need to change that.
“And we will do that. That’s the commitment I’m putting out. We’re actively starting from having consultations and then beginning to roll out the studies and put the data out there into the public domain. The private sector and the government will begin to use those data points to plan.”
It was previously stated that NIMRA had revealed plans to support trustworthy data and market insights during its 2024 Annual General Meeting to aid in the nation's economic development.
The necessity of making more datasets available to the public, such as household spending and other socioeconomic classification data, was emphasized by NIMRA.
“It is a major thrust for us this year. We are going to organise a roundtable forum and begin to tackle some of these things like household expenditure survey data,” Adeoye submitted. “It won’t be just NBS. We will also bring our expertise and then there will be different data points.
“Socioeconomic classification is another one that we’re going to do. And then having data for national planning. All of that is key for us this year.”
The head of NIMRA pointed out that several major, local data-gathering organizations are needed to aid in comparison and analysis.
He added,
“Look at the International Monetary Fund and then you have the World Bank. All of them (put) estimate out and everything and then you compare, right? But there’s no comparison with NBS and that’s it pretty much. That will change this year.”
According to Adeoye, NBS will work with the marketing research body, which will bring the agency and private practitioners together to jointly develop data points.
The president of NIMRA also acknowledged the worldwide threat posed by cyberattacks and called for further investment in cyber security as crucial in the data age.
“It’s not just Nigeria. It’s a global phenomenon. I think the U.S. Treasury also, their own data collateral was hacked and they came out and said it was China. The real focus should then be that for assets like NBS, we must employ and deploy the highest standard of cyber security possible so that some guys will not get crazy and attack.
NBS says illegal activities to be used in GDP calculation
Legit.ng reported that the country's Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, will now take into account illicit and covert activities including pr*stitution and drug sales.
This is according to a statement released by the National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS.
NBS disclosed this at a sensitization workshop on GDP and Consumer Price Index, CPI Rebasing organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).
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Source: Legit.ng
