FG Faults Foreign Data on Nigeria’s Economy
Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja
The federal government has queried the methodology used by foreign agencies to generate economic indices for Nigeria. Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, expressed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the launch of “African Youth Employment Clock”, a project executed by Master Card, in partnership with World Data Lab, and the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
Bagudu said Nigeria had to be involved in the collation of economic data so that the country could fully understand how the data was collated and tell the world about its own industrious citizens.
According to him, foreign agencies do not tell good stories about the country’s hard-working citizens when collating their economic data.
Bagudu stated, “Sometimes a data set may not reveal all. For example, how do I communicate to the world that in my country, Nigeria, there are hardworking people, that a woman in Ogbia, Taraba, or in Borno is willing to wake up as early as 4am to give her efforts. How do I also communicate to the world that I also have young ones that all they are looking for is an opportunity that is available to others because they don’t want to be a nuisance to the world?
“Sometimes the way data is generated; particularly by some officials of international bodies, misses that out. And I gave an example; credit rating agencies.
“An African finance minister that expressed that for nine years, he has been trying to understand methodology so that he can also ensure that they meet the criteria such that they can access credit or access financial resources cheaper like other countries in the Western world are doing. So that’s what I meant by data imperialism.
“Once we are not involved; we don’t understand the methodology to know how the data was collated. But the bottom-line is, how does this data reveal who we are?”
The minister appreciated MasterCard Foundation and the World Data Lab for their contributions to government’s effort to reduce unemployment in the country and the African continent.
He said, “We appreciate what MasterCard Foundation is doing. The Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning engaged with MasterCard Foundation; we registered them and we have been following what they’ve been doing and all the laudable programmes they’ve been doing to create employment within Nigeria and the wider African continent.
“And even this African youth clock that is being launched here today. These are initiatives that draw our attention to where we are. This is helpful to us in Nigeria because as part of our Renewed Hope Agenda strategy.
“President Bola Tinubu said, let us confront our realities, let us draw short term plans and create an environment that will make our younger ones live more prosperous in the future, have equity, have choices both in Nigeria and around the world.”
Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, commended MasterCard Foundation and World Data Lab for the initiative.
Onyejeocha said, “An estimated 245 million young Africans are currently unemployed and could grow up to 297 plus million people by 2030 if we fail to act decisively.
“Youth unemployment threatens the socio-economic stability of our nation.
“The federal government is implementing bold and innovative strategies to tackle this crisis head-on. Our policies are closely aligned with the aspirations of the Nigerian Development Plan 2021-2025, and the long term articulated agenda for employment for 2050.
“Our long-term plan for employment generation is implemented through the following avenues: economic diversification, leveraging key sectors, like agric, ICT, manufacturing, creative industry, to create employment, skills acquisitions, support for SMES, innovation in education, enhancing digital literacy, and private sector engagement.”
MasterCard Foundation Country Director in Nigeria, Rosy Fynn, said the collaboration between the foundation, World Data Lab, and the Nigerian government would create 30 million jobs, which will increase over time.
