‘We don’t have the second highest unemployment rate’ — A’Ibom rejects NBS report

The Akwa Ibom government has rejected the report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which lists the state as having the second highest rate of unemployment in the country.

A statement by Ini Ememobong, commissioner for information and strategy, on Saturday, denied the report, adding that it contradicted the reality on ground.

The NBS report disclosed that the number of unemployed Nigerians, as at the second quarter of 2020, stood at 21.76 million.

The report showed that Imo ranked the highest with 48.7 percent, followed by Akwa Ibom with 45.2 percent, while Rivers had 43.7 percent.

However, according to the commissioner, the NBS figure was contrary to the level of development in the state.

“The attention of Akwa Ibom state government has been drawn to the ‘Labour Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report’ by NBS, wherein it listed the state with the second highest unemployment rate in the country,” the statement read.

“This conclusion, which calls for serious scrutiny, is unbelievable.

“The reality on ground in our state is in contradistinction to the Bureau’s report.

“A juxtaposition of the said report with the reality of the existence and operation of the numerous industries in our state, the recruitment into the civil and public service, public private partnership initiatives, award of direct labour contracts, our airline and general aviation businesses, qualitative cash support and interest free loans to entrepreneurs, financial and input support to farmers; the obvious conclusion will confirm that indeed the current administration has created quality jobs in an unprecedented manner.

“This reality is not attempting to deny the existence of unemployment, which is a global phenomenon worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a responsible government, we intend to engage NBS, to ascertain the veracity of their processes and result.”

The state demanded answers from the NBS over the following: what sample size was used in the survey; the spatial spread of the sample; what population figure was used to obtain the percentage recorded; what quality assurance mechanisms were employed; the temporal spread of the data used in the analyses, and which agency in the state the data source authentication was done.

“It is common knowledge that unemployment has its permanent corollary — a spike in crime, increased youth restiveness, etc.,” Ememobong added.

He said citizens, security agencies and visitors, describe Akwa Ibom as “Nigeria’s safest state”.

“How then can a state be the safest, which has witnessed influx of industries and other economic activities, purveyed by local cum foreign investors and still be the state with the second largest unemployment percentage?” the commissioner queried.

According to him, “the role of data in a survey is to reflect the existing reality, not to project the imaginary.”