NBS identifies 1.4m businesses in national business sample census

Yemi Kale, statistician-general of the federation and chief executive officer of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says 1.4 million businesses have been identified in the National Business Sample Census.

Kale was speaking at a media conference on the significance of the ongoing National Survey of Establishment (NSE) in Abuja on Thursday.

Explaining the conditions to be met for an establishment to be enumerated, he said it must have a fixed location as well as operate from a fixed structure that could be locked up among other attributes.

“The first component is the listing or enumeration of business and commercial establishments across the country, while the second part is the sample survey, which is currently going on,” he said.

“The data retrieved from the businesses during the listing exercise were the establishment’s contact details, nature of the business and ownership structure, number of employees, and GPS location.

“The sample survey which commenced with the training of field personnel two weeks ago, essentially, takes a sample of the enumerated business establishments under the listing exercise.

“This National Survey of Establishment is second part of the National Business Sample Census 2020/21 which started in October last year, after some delays brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“By design, the NBSC 2020/21 has two major components. The first component is the listing or enumeration of business and commercial establishments across the country, while the second part is the sample survey, which is currently going on.

“In the listing part which was completed in December 2020 and resulted in the enumeration of over 1.4 million establishments nationwide, a set of criteria had to be met by the establishment to qualify for enumeration.”

The NBS had earlier announced that Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) will be rebased in 2021 which is expected to lead to an expansion in the size of Nigeria’s GDP.

The last time Nigeria rebased its GDP was in 2014 and this led to an 89 percent increase in the size of the economy as new sectors and activities were measured.

Kale said upon completion of the GDP rebasing exercise, the NSE will provide updated sectoral information on 17 broad economic activities to create a better reflection of the commercial structure and composition of the Nigerian economy.

“It would also provide useful information for policymakers on the activities driving the Nigerian economy and those that require government intervention and serve as a benchmark for subsequent commercial and industrial sector statistics,” he said.

“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic when many businesses and commercial activities have been impacted severely, a survey such as this, with the information to emanate, is extremely invaluable to designing and planning for the post-COVID-19 long term growth and development of the private sector in Nigeria.”

The statistician-general said another significant input to the rebasing is the national agriculture sample census, which will be conducted later in the year.