Skip to main content

Reflect rising rate of employment in agriculture sector in your statistics - Buhari tells NBS

- President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the NBS to reflect the rising rate of employment in the agriculture sector in its statistics

- Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesman, said that the statistician-general, Yemi Kale, admitted that the NBS was only focusing on the creation of white collar jobs not agriculture

- He said that Buhari told Kale to go and admit his error to members of the public and make appropriate changes

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the statistician-general of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Yemi Kale, to change the high unemployment statistics and reflect the rising rate of employment in the agriculture sector.

The Punch reports that the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said this on Sunrise Daily, a programme on Channels Television.

Legit.ng gathered that Shehu said that during a recent meeting with the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Kale admitted that the NBS was only focusing on the creation of white collar jobs and not the agriculture sector and the informal sector.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

He said the president subsequently told him to go and admit his error to members of the public and make appropriate changes.

When asked why job losses were being recorded, Shehu said, “There was a departure last week. The NBS chief had addressed the federal cabinet and he made the admission himself that they had concentrated analysis over time on white collar jobs and they had not taken cognisance of job creation in areas of agriculture.

“Rice Producers Association of Nigeria made the open claim and nobody has challenged them up until the time that we speak, that they had created 12 million new jobs.

“When he finished addressing the federal cabinet last week, the government asked the DG of the NBS, to go out there and tell the Nigerian public, you are just saying to us now that Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi and Ebonyi are recording the lowest unemployment rates in the country on account of agriculture.

“So, the point is that the data collected which has formed judgement on the data that have been passed and misleading and I think there is now a convergence.

"The data has been unfair to the administration, it had ignored job creation in the areas of agriculture but that is now being integrated and Nigerians will be impressed.”

However, a spokesman for the Abubakar Atiku campaign organisation, Phrank Shuaibu, who was on the programme, lambasted Shehu, accusing the presidency of attempting to alter job statistics on the eve of elections.

He said it seemed the presidency was trying to cow the NBS like it did to the West African Examination Council when the registrar personally handed over a certificate to Buhari at the Villa.

Shuaibu said: “The National Bureau of Statics came for EFC meeting and according to the president’s spokesman, the man admitted that he miscalculated. That is an agency funded by government, not an agency sponsored by any international organisation.

“He has forgotten that this is not 1984. 2015 is not 1984. The world has gone digital but because they are operating an analogue system of government, they don’t know that even a 10-year-old can use the internet to find out statistics.

“When the NBS came out with the figures about loss of jobs and how it was affecting the economy, nobody came out to defend the government. But just as the certificate issue was managed, they have pushed the DG to the villa and obviously dictated to him what he should say.

“You cannot say that a government that is in power, the DG of NBS reeled out statistics, you did nothing to him, many months after and because elections are here, on the eve of elections, he is summoned to FEC and is asked to generate new figures.

"That is a fallacious tale and an affront on the sensibilities of Nigerians and they should apologise to us.”

Incidentally, the NBS has failed to release the statistics on unemployment for over a year, citing lack of funds as the reason.

READ ALSO: Breaking: National Assembly workers begin strike, block gates

However, the opposition has always insisted that the presidency had ordered the agency not to release the figures until after elections.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the prices of food in the country went up in the month of November 2018, due to the rise in inflation which stood at 11.28% year-on-year from 11.26% in October 2018.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

Laolu Akande Speaks on How Presidency is Tackling Economy | - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng



from Nigeria News today & Breaking Naija news ▷ Read on LEGIT.NG 24/7 https://ift.tt/2QZxIbx
via EDUPEDIA24/7

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President

The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday. In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence. It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria. “She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria. “She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR). “Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as P...
Post a Comment
Read more

NLNG Signs Letter Of Intent On Delayed Gas Expansion Project

The Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas LTD has signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of its long held up Train Seven project. In a statement released by the company on Wednesday, it said that the $10bn project will be executed by a consortium of Italian firm Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda and South Korea’s Daewoo. The statement reads, “The project will form part of the investment of over $10bn including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment profile of Nigeria.” Managing Director of NLNG, Tony Atta, said in 2018 that the Final Investment Decision would be made in the fourth quarter of that year. This did not however, materialize. According to the release, the project will have a four to five-year execution time after the signing of the FID. The project is expected to add an extra 8 million tons per annum of gas to the 22 mtpa currently exported by the company. Oil News AddThis :...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former Maritime Agency Boss, Buba Galadima, Accuses AMCON Of Witch-hunt After Property Takeover

  A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja. Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday. The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.  Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me. "But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment. "We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provi...
Post a Comment
Read more