The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is to conduct a census of businesses and industries in Nigeria, the first in 21 years, the Statistician General of the Federation, Dr Yemi Kale has disclosed.
Kale who spoke in Kaduna on Thursday at a workshop to sensitise stakeholders from 18 Northern states, ahead of the project, said the count was imperative to get new and accurate data of the businesses to support policy formulation and implementation.
He explained that data generated would help government and the private sector in proper planning for the sector as well as meeting key SDGs targets.
Kale who represented by NBS Head of Corporate Planning and Technical Coordination, Simon Harry, stressed that it was important for the country to join the global information society by having accurate data on all areas of development.
According to him, “There is need for reliable statistical information to be able to manage critical sectors such as education, health, environment, commerce, industry and agriculture.
“Without it, we cannot make well informed decisions that will catalyse our social and economic development for the improvement of the welfare of the citizenry,
“This informs the conduct of the (National Census of Commercial and Industrial Business (NCCIB) to enable us track the growth of the economy and the contribution of all relevant sectors”.
He further explained that the National Census of Commercial and Industrial Business (NCCIB) is also designed to complement other important surveys like the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), and National Nutrition and Health Survey conducted by the NBS.
Kale disclosed that the census would help to provide answers on the number of business enterprises each state of the federation has, their location, employment strength and capacity utilization.
“Such information is critical in determining the direction and strength of the nation’s economy,”
He said that at the end of the exercise, it will be easier to classify businesses into small, medium and large enterprises, as well as their spread across the 774 local government areas in the country.
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