Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • One Year After, Experts Review Tinubu’s 2024 Protest Speech, Say Progress Minimal
    • ‘Let’s Stop Playing Games’, Reps Fume At Minister As ₦5bn Baro Port Remains Unused
    • Tinubu Urges Governors To Invest More In Poverty Eradication, Others
    • Kano Governor Appoints ICPC Veteran, Saidu Yahya As New Anti-Corruption Boss
    • INEC Mobilises Stakeholders Ahead Of August 12 Voter Registration In Yobe
    • Kaduna Summit Backs Tinubu’s Reforms, Demands More On Education, Citizen Dialogue
    • Keynote Address By Tony O. Elumelu At The African Caucus Meeting
    • Super Eagles Forward, Osimhen Completes Transfer To Galatasaray In Record €75m Deal
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    • HOME
    • NEWS

      One Year After, Experts Review Tinubu’s 2024 Protest Speech, Say Progress Minimal

      August 1, 2025

      ‘Let’s Stop Playing Games’, Reps Fume At Minister As ₦5bn Baro Port Remains Unused

      August 1, 2025

      Tinubu Urges Governors To Invest More In Poverty Eradication, Others

      August 1, 2025

      Kano Governor Appoints ICPC Veteran, Saidu Yahya As New Anti-Corruption Boss

      August 1, 2025

      INEC Mobilises Stakeholders Ahead Of August 12 Voter Registration In Yobe

      August 1, 2025
    • COLUMN

      Balkanisation, Push-Back: Can ADC Weather The Storm? – By Zainab Suleiman Okino

      July 31, 2025

      Buhari: May Our Subsequent Leaders Die At Home (2) – By Dr Hassan Gimba

      July 28, 2025

      New Wave Of Malnutrition And The Road To 2027 – By Dr Dakuku Peterside

      July 28, 2025

      Dignifying The Nigeria Police – By Kazeem Akintunde

      July 28, 2025

      Land Grab: Why UniAbuja Needs Presidential Protection (Part 2) – By Martins Oloja

      July 28, 2025
    • EDUCATION

      13 Countries Offering Free Or Low-Cost PhD Programmes For Non-Citizens

      January 25, 2025

      NECO: Abia, Imo Top Performing States In Two Years, Katsina, Zamfara Come Last

      October 3, 2024

      NBTE Accredits 17 Programmes At Federal Polytechnic Kabo

      August 20, 2024

      15 Most Expensive Universities In Nigeria

      May 19, 2024

      FULL LIST: Tinubu Appoints Former SGF Yayale, Ex-Governor Yuguda, Muhammad Abacha, Jega In Universities’ Governing Councils

      May 18, 2024
    • INTERNATIONAL

      Palestinian Newborns Starving In Gaza As Infant Formula Runs Out

      August 1, 2025

      Microsoft Accuses Russia’s FSB Of Using Malware Against Foreign Embassies

      August 1, 2025

      Israel Starves More Palestinians To Death In Gaza As Attacks Continue

      July 31, 2025

      Trump Hits India With 25% Tariff, Extra ‘Penalty’ For Russian Oil Purchases

      July 31, 2025

      Gaza On ‘Brink Of Full-Scale Famine’ As Israel Blocks Crucial Aid

      July 30, 2025
    • JUDICIARY

      FULL LIST: Judicial Council Recommends Appointment Of 11 Supreme Court Justices

      December 6, 2023

      Supreme Court: Judicial Council Screens 22 Nominees, Candidates Face DSS, Others

      November 29, 2023

      FULL LIST: Judicial Commission Nominates 22 Justices For Elevation To Supreme Court

      November 16, 2023

      Seven Key Issues Resolved By Seven Supreme Court Judges

      October 26, 2023

      FULL LIST: CJN To Swear In Falana’s Wife, 57 Others As SANs November 27

      October 12, 2023
    • POLITICS

      What Peter Obi May Lose If He Joins Coalition As VP Candidate

      May 25, 2025

      Atiku Moves To Unseat Wike’s Damagum As PDP Chairman, Backs Suswam As Replacement

      April 15, 2024

      Edo’s Senator Matthew Uroghide, Others Defect To APC

      April 13, 2024

      Finally, Wike Opens Up On Rift With Peter Odili

      April 2, 2024

      El-Rufa’i’s Debt Burden: APC Suspends Women Leader For Criticising Kaduna Gov

      March 31, 2024
    • SPORTS

      Super Eagles Forward, Osimhen Completes Transfer To Galatasaray In Record €75m Deal

      August 1, 2025

      AfroBasket 2025: Nigeria’s D’Tigress To Play Cameroon In Quarter-Final

      August 1, 2025

      Nigeria’s D’Tigress Await Angola, Cameroon As 2025 Afrobasket Enters Quarterfinals

      July 31, 2025

      Manchester United Open Talks To Sign RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko

      July 31, 2025

      Remo Stars Begin NPFL Title Defence Against Rivers United, Abia Warriors Host Pillars

      July 30, 2025
    • MORE
      • AFRICA
      • ANALYSIS
      • BUSINESS
      • ENTERTAINMENT
      • FEATURED
      • LENS SPEAK
      • INFO – TECH
      • INTERVIEW
      • NIGERIA DECIDES
      • OPINION
      • Personality Profile
      • Picture of the month
      • Science
      • Special Project
      • Videos
      • Weekend Sports
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    Home - Public Trust In NBS Falters Amid Growing Discrepancies Between Data, Daily Realities

    Public Trust In NBS Falters Amid Growing Discrepancies Between Data, Daily Realities

    By Sadiq AbdullateefJuly 27, 2025
    NBS

    ONCE seen as Nigeria’s gold standard for credible and professional statistics, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is increasingly under public scrutiny,.

    News Point Nigeria reports that Nigerians across economic classes are voicing doubts over recent NBS figures on inflation, employment, and crime claiming they no longer reflect the reality on the ground.

    This erosion of trust has been particularly evident since early 2025, when the NBS introduced a rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) that showed inflation plummeting from 34.8% in December 2024 to 24.48% in January.

    UBA

    While the announcement suggested a welcome drop, Nigerians at the markets saw no relief.

    “I don’t need statistics to know that food prices are rising,” said Blessing Umeh, a petty trader in Abuja. “Rice, yam, even cooking gas has gone up. So how can they say inflation is dropping?”

    WIDGET ADS

    Simon Samson, an economist and lecturer at a private University, explained that inflation figures can be misunderstood.

    “An inflation drop from 25% to 24% doesn’t mean prices are falling, it just means they’re rising a little slower,” he noted. “But the bigger problem is perception. If the public stops believing your numbers, your institution loses relevance.”

    Thomas Sankara African Leadership Prize

    That perception hit rock bottom with the release and sudden disappearance of the NBS’s 2024 Crime Experienced and Security Perception Survey. The report claimed over 614,000 Nigerians were killed and 2.2 million kidnapped in a single year.

    Security analysts immediately questioned the data’s plausibility. “That’s 1,700 deaths and over 6,200 abductions every day,” said security analyst Bulama Bukarti. “It’s just not credible.”

    Nigerian TAX Reform - Federal Goverment

    The backlash was swift. The report vanished from the NBS website, no clarification followed, and Nigerians were left with more questions than answers.

    NBS’s revised unemployment methodology, introduced in 2023, has been another major flashpoint. The agency now counts anyone engaged in any economic activity for at least one hour a week as “employed.”

    In Q2 2024, this new model led NBS to announce a national unemployment rate of just 4.3% down from 5.3% the previous quarter. But to the millions of underemployed Nigerians working sporadic jobs or running petty street-side hustles, the numbers felt like an insult.

    National Orientation Agency Page UP
    National Orientation Agency - Down

    The Nigerian Labour Congress called it a “voodoo document designed to mislead,” arguing that the methodology, though globally accepted, doesn’t reflect the Nigerian context.

    More recently, the rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP has sparked similar doubts. Official reports suggest growth, but businesses tell a different story one of layoffs, closures, and rising costs.

    Manufacturing is slowing, and MSMEs are struggling to survive under the weight of energy costs, insecurity, and forex volatility.

    Critics are beginning to ask if the NBS is being politicised. Once praised for its independence, the agency now faces suspicions of adjusting or withholding uncomfortable data.

    Samson insists the problem isn’t just internal: “Yes, NBS must remain above politics. But the public also needs help interpreting data. It’s a two-way street.”

    Nonetheless, the agency’s silence on controversial figures and failure to adequately explain drastic shifts in methodology have led many to believe that transparency is fading fast.

    With faith in official data dwindling, many Nigerians are turning to their own indicators: how much they spend at the market, the cost of transportation, and the weight of their empty wallets.

    In a country battling inflation, insecurity, and unemployment, reliable data is not a luxury it’s a necessity.

    It informs policy, guides investment, and holds governments accountable. Without it, Nigeria risks flying blind.

    The question now is whether the NBS can regain the trust it once enjoyed or whether the nation’s numbers will continue to be met not with analysis, but with suspicion.

    Data NBS Public
    Share. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp LinkedIn Telegram Email

    Related Posts

    One Year After, Experts Review Tinubu’s 2024 Protest Speech, Say Progress Minimal

    August 1, 2025

    ‘Let’s Stop Playing Games’, Reps Fume At Minister As ₦5bn Baro Port Remains Unused

    August 1, 2025

    Tinubu Urges Governors To Invest More In Poverty Eradication, Others

    August 1, 2025

    Kano Governor Appoints ICPC Veteran, Saidu Yahya As New Anti-Corruption Boss

    August 1, 2025
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Latest Posts

    One Year After, Experts Review Tinubu’s 2024 Protest Speech, Say Progress Minimal

    August 1, 2025

    ‘Let’s Stop Playing Games’, Reps Fume At Minister As ₦5bn Baro Port Remains Unused

    August 1, 2025

    Tinubu Urges Governors To Invest More In Poverty Eradication, Others

    August 1, 2025

    Kano Governor Appoints ICPC Veteran, Saidu Yahya As New Anti-Corruption Boss

    August 1, 2025

    INEC Mobilises Stakeholders Ahead Of August 12 Voter Registration In Yobe

    August 1, 2025
    Advertisement
    WIDGET ADS
    News Point NG
    © 2025 NEWS POINT NIGERIA Developed by ENGRMKS & CO.
    • Home
    • About us
    • Disclaimer
    • Our Advert Rates
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Join Us On WhatsApp