The growing interest and need for data on Nigeria, in recent times, has resulted mainly from concerns on the part of policymakers, investors, businesses and citizens regarding the socio-economic conditions that face the Nigerian population. As the coordinator of the National Statistical System (NSS) and authoritative source of official statistics in Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has the statutory mandate of meeting this demand by providing accurate, timely and reliable official statistics.
The Social Statistics Report 2017, builds on similar previous efforts to assess socio-economic indicators on Nigeria by reviewing developments during the period 2014, 2015 and 2016. It has been produced to meet NBS’ specific mandate of collecting, collating, analysing and disseminating statistical information on all facets of national life, while also reflecting the coordinating role that NBS plays in its relationship with federal and state ministries, departments or agencies (MDAs).
The Report, comprising of Part I: Summary Report and Part II: Statistical Appendix, is a compilation of data on the contemporary socio-economic situation in Nigeria. While it does not cover every single topic or sector, or represent the totality of available social statistics, it does present a variety of pertinent social and economic statistics and is indicative of what is available within the Bureau’s data systems, both online and in print. Data for this publication was mainly generated from administrative sources, routinely collected from Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
In terms of structure, this summary report has been divided into sixteen chapters covering agriculture, civil service, communication, culture & tourism, education, elections, energy & environment, public finance, health, judiciary, labour, petroleum, security, transport and youth. I wish to acknowledge the support of the Planning, Research and Statistics Department of relevant MDAs in supplying data for the compilation of this report. While there are on-going efforts to further streamline the administrative data collection process, it is our expectation that more sectors will be covered in the future, and MDAs that have pending data submissions will be able to make necessary updates by the next reporting cycle.
I am confident that this publication, together with the statistical appendix, will go a long way in meeting the needs of policymakers, researchers, students, social advocates and other relevant stakeholders to formulate policies and strategies as well as track changes on various dimensions of socio-economic conditions in Nigeria. It is, therefore, my pleasure to present this edition of Social Statistics Report 2017 to the various users. We welcome any suggestions and contributions that will help in improving future compilations.
