The unemployment rate in the country has dropped to 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The latest findings were not meant to give President Bola Ahmed Tinubu‘s government a good face but to bring up the method used to conduct labour surveys in the country, says NBS.

The unemployment rate in the country had stood at 33.3 per cent in the last report of the NBS released as of the fourth quarter of 2020.

The last survey was conducted using the 13th ICLS, which was birthed and adopted in 1982 at the International Conference of Labour Statisticians.

The federal government agency had earlier announced that it would use a new methodology that aggregates the number of employed and unemployed persons in the country to get accurate data on the labour force.

“Following guidelines adopted during the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in Geneva in 2013, the aim of this re-evaluation was two-pronged. On one hand was to ensure that the methodology was in line with international best practices and locally relevant, and on the other hand, to ensure that a production process was robust enough to produce estimates on a sustainable basis (avoiding periodic gaps), and also, produce more labour market indicators and analysis that will inform government about the employment and job situation in Nigeria,” NBS said earlier.

It, however, was revealed on Thursday during the launch of the new methodology in Abuja that the new figure brings Nigeria’s Labour Survey in tandem with international standards.

The agency noted that the survey was conducted in collaboration with the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation and has been adopted by 26 countries in Africa.

More details shortly…