Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, has decried the effect of insecurity on the quality and reliability of statistical information in the country.

Also, Executive Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa Kwarra, said due to insecurity, the commission was unable to demarcate two local councils, as it prepared for the 2023 National Population and Housing Census.

The duo spoke at the 45th Statistical Conference of the Nigerian Statistical Association (NSA), held in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

The theme of the conference was ‘Security Challenges in Nigeria and Associated Consequences: A Statistical Overview’.

Adeniran, who spoke on the topic, ‘Consequences of Security Challenges on the National Statistical System in Nigeria’, said a significant proportion of statistics produced by NBS is from surveys, census, or field data collection.

He said insecurity poses a serious challenge for the system, as there have been several cases of attack on field staff, robbery and theft of survey equipment, and kidnappings.

He said there has been increase in number of inaccessible areas in parts of the country, where enumerators are not able to go in for data collection.

“As an example, under a school-based exercise, recently undertaken by NBS, head teachers and facilitators had to leave their communities and meet with enumerators at the headquarters of the local council for interviews, because those communities were unsafe to visit.

“All these disruptions to field operations, when carefully considered, can result in significant additional costs to the budget, and heavily impact on the lean finances within the system.

“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.”

Kwarra, who spoke on ‘Strategies for Effective Management of the 2023 Population and Housing Census within the Context of Nigeria’s Security Environment’, said due to insecurity, the commission has not been able to demarcate two out of the 774 local councils in the country.

The two, he said, are Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, occasioned by cases of banditry, and Abadam in Borno State, due to Boko Haram insurgency.