The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released 48 reports in Q1 2017 relating to various sectors like agriculture, consumer price index, finance, trade, education, energy, crime, transport and petroleum. However, the NBS Act requires them to publish a code of practice and data release policy which are not publicly available. While most reports were released on time according to the data calendar, the calendar itself was modified without notice of the changes. Timeliness of releases was generally good but some reports lacked punctuality.

1. StatiSense
REVIEW OF NBS Q1 2017
DATA RELEASES

2. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is Nigeria’s National Office
of Statistics. Over the past 4 years, the Agency has had
tremendous impact on the use of data for planning and decision
making in Nigeria.
The NBS is one of government Agencies the Nigerian people
really have high regard for, especially that they have become
very reliable in publishing of data and engaging with the public
under the leadership of the current Statistician-General of the
Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale.
While the NBS is doing its best, this presentation, for the main
purpose of providing improvement feedback, analyses NBS data
releases for January to March 2017 (Q1 2017) based on its “Data
Release Calendar” published on the NBS website.
The published reports are evaluated based on the NBS Act 2007
and other international Codes of Practice and Guidelines for
Measuring Statistical Quality.
Introduction

3. National
The NBS Act 2007 in Part VI:
 Section 24 that the “…Statistician-General shall issue a Code
of Practice that sets out professional standards to be followed
by all agencies producing official statistics”;
 Section 27 (3), “Each year, the Board will publish in advance
the data to be produced together with date, for the release of
the data and all data producing agencies including the
Bureau will be required to have a data release policy to be
made publicly available and they have power to impose
charges for data products and services”.
Evaluation Criteria
International
 Guidelines for measuring statistical quality, UK
 Code of Practice for Official Statistics, UK
RATING (SCORE) GOOD (3.0) FAIR (1.5) POOR (0.0)

4. Evaluation Criteria
Framework Indicator Assessment Criteria
NBS The Statistics Act, 2007
• Code of Practice
• Data calendar
guiding data
publication
• Data release policy
Availability of the Code of Practice;
Data release calendar
Data release policy
UK
Guidelines for
measuring statistical
quality
Timeliness &
Punctuality (T&P)
• production time;
• frequency of release; and
• punctuality of release.
Accessibility & Clarity
(A&C)
• needs of analysts;
• assistance to locate
information;
• clarity; and
• dissemination.
T&P
• Describe any lack of punctuality in
the delivery of the administrative
data source.
A&C
• Describe whether data are
accompanied by commentary.
• Accessibility of outputs to all at the
same time, according to a
preannounced timetable
• Availability of metadata
• Indicator of the accessibility of the
statistics on the website.
UK
Code of Practice for
Official Statistics
Protocol
Protocol 1: User
engagement
Protocol 2: Release
practices
• Awareness of releases
• Standard time and day of release
• Change in release schedule

5. The NBS Data Release Calendar guides the publication of
statistical reports by the Agency. The calendar is available at
http://nigerianstat.gov.ng/information/calendar. Below shows
data releases according to the calendar.
NBS 2017 Data Release
QUARTER MONTH REPORT
Q1 January, February, March 48
Q2 April, May, June 52
Q3 July, August, September 47
Q4 October, November, December 56
TOTAL 203

6. 13 Reports
23 Reports
12 Reports
The NBS Data Release Calendar guides the publication of
statistical reports by the Agency. The calendar is available at
http://nigerianstat.gov.ng/information/calendar. Below shows
data releases according to the calendar.
NBS Q1, 2017 Data Release
FEBRUARY
JANUARY
MARCH
48REPORTS

7. NBS Q1, 2017 Data Release
S/N Report Title
Estimated
Release
Date
1 December 2016 HHK/Kerosene Price Watch 16-Jan-17
2 December 2016 PMS/Petrol Price Watch 16-Jan-17
3 December 2016 AGO/Diesel Price Watch 16-Jan-17
4 December 2016 Consumer Price Index & Inflation 16-Jan-17
5 Half Year 2016 States Internally Generated Revenue 18-Jan-17
6
Q4 2016 Petroleum Product Importation and
Consumption
20-Jan-17
7 Q4 2016 Pension Industry Data: Registered Beneficiaries 23-Jan-17
8 Q4 2016 Electricity Generation and Distribution 26-Jan-17
9 December 2016 Monthly FACC Disbursements 26-Jan-17
10 Q4 2016 Financial Services Data 28-Jan-17
11
Q4 2016 Electronic Payment Channels in the Nigerian
Banking Sector
28-Jan-17
12 Q4 2016 Nigerian Telecommunications Services Sector 30-Jan-17
13 Q4 2016 Capital Importation 1-Feb-17
14 2010 - 2015 Shipping and Port Related Activities Data 8-Feb-17
15 2010 - 2015 Registered Products Data 8-Feb-17
16 Fishing Output Data 2010 - 2015 10-Feb-17
17
Electricity: Invoices and payments from Gencos to Discos
and Offtakers 2016
12-Feb-17
18 January 2017 Consumer Price Index & Inflation 15-Feb-17
19 January 2017 AGO/Diesl Price Watch 15-Feb-17
20 January 2017 PMS/Petrol Price Watch 15-Feb-17
21 January 2017 HHK/Kerosene Price Watch 15-Feb-17
22 January 2017 Transport fare price watch 15-Feb-17
23
January 2017 Liquified Petroleum Gas(cooking gas) price
watch
15-Feb-17
24
Joint Admissions & Matriculation Board (JAMB) admitted
candidates by State and Gender within Faculty 2010-16
20-Feb-17
25 Q4 2016 Gross Domestic Product by Output approach 28-Feb-17
S/N Report Title
Estimated
Release
Date
26 Q4 2016 VAT by Sector 3-Mar-17
27 Q4 2016 External Trade Intensity and Re Export Analysis 10-Mar-17
28 Q4 2016 ForeignTrade in Merchandise 10-Mar-17
29 Crime Statistics: Prison Inmates by States, 2016 10-Mar-17
30 Crime Statistics: Prison Inmates by State 2011 - 2015 12-Mar-17
31 January 2017 Monthly FACC Disbursements 13-Mar-17
32 2016 State Disaggregated Mining and Quarrying Data 13-Mar-17
33 2016 postal services data 14-Mar-17
34 February 2017 Consumer Price Index & Inflation 14-Mar-17
35 February 2017 AGO/Diesl Price Watch 14-Mar-17
36 February 2017 PMS/Petrol Price Watch 14-Mar-17
37 February 2017 HHK/Kerosene Price Watch 14-Mar-17
38 February 2017 Transport fare price watch 14-Mar-17
39
Febuary 2017 Liquified Petroleum Gas(cooking gas)
price watch
14-Mar-17
40 Febuary 2017 Selected Food Prices Watch 14-Mar-17
41 Q4 2016 Airline and Passenger Travel 20-Mar-17
42
2016 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey V : Report on
Women and Children
25-Mar-17
43
2016 Road Transport Data: Road accidents and Vehicle
and Drivers license registration
25-Mar-17
44 Annual Abstract of Statistics 2012-2015 28-Mar-17
45 Q4 2016 Unemployment and Underemployment Watch 29-Mar-17
46 February 2017 Monthly FACC Disbursements 31-Mar-17
47 Q4 2016 Labour Productivity Report 31-Mar-17
48 Q1 2017 Online Recruitment Service Report 31-Mar-17

8. SummaryNBS Q1, 2017 Data Release
No. Count
1 Agriculture Nigeria's Fish Production (2010-2015), Selected Food Prices Watch (Feb 2017). 2
2
Consumer Price
Index & Inflation
Nigerian Capital Importation (Q4 2016), CPI and Inflation Report (Feb 2017), CPI and
Inflation Report (Jan 2017), CPI and Inflation Report (Dec 2016).
4
3 FAAC, IGR & GDP
FAAC Disbursement (Feb 2017, FAAC Disbursement (Jan 2017), FAAC Disbursement (Dec
2016), IGR at State Level (Jan - June 2016), Nigerian GDP Report (Q4 2016).
5
4 International Trade
Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q4 2016), Merchandise Trade Intensity Index/Re-exports
(Q4 2016)
2
5
Education, Health,
Financial, ICT &
Telecoms, Mining
and Quarrying
JAMB Admitted Candidates by State and Gender within Faculty (2010-2016), Registered
Products (2016), Annual Postal Services Data (2016), Nigerian Telecommunications
Summary Report (Q4 2016), Selected Banking Sector Data (Q4 2016), State
Disaggregated Mining and Quarrying Data (2016)
6
6 Power
Nigerian Bulk Electricity Invoices and Payment from GENCOs to DISCOs and Offtakers
(2016), Daily Energy Generated and Sent Out (Oct - Dec 2016)
2
7 Crime and Pensions
Crime Statistics: Nigerian Prisons (Apr 2016), Retirement Savings Account (RSA)
Membership Distribution (Q4 2016), Number of Unsentenced Detainees and Overall Prison
Population By State & Year (2011 - 2015)
3
8 Petroleum
Petroleum Products Imports Statistics (4th Quarter 2016),
Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price Watch (Dec 2016, Jan 2016, & Feb 2017),
Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) Price Watch (Dec 2016, Jan 2016, & Feb 2017),
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch (Dec 2016, Jan 2016, & Feb 2017*),
National Household Kerosene Price Watch (Dec 2016, Jan 2016, & Feb 2017),
12
9 Transport
Road Transport Data (2016), Transport Fare Watch (Jan 2017), Transport Fare Watch (Feb
2017), 2013 - 2016 Shipping and Port Related Activities Data
4
10 Economy Economic Recovery Growth Plan (2017-2020) 1
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch (February 2017) is wrongly placed under the Transport sector in the Portal.

9. Limitation
1) The following NBS documents are not publicly available:
 Code of Practice
 Data release policy
2) Time and date reports were published are not displayed alongside
reports
3) Beside the “Downloads” indicator, other measure of accessibility such
as “Number of web hits” is absent.
With the absence of upload date
and time for each report,
“Modified” date as extracted from
each report properties will be will
be assumed as the approximate
published date and time.
For instance, the February 2017 Consumer Price Index & Inflation report was scheduled
for release on 14-March-2017; according to the properties of the published report, it
showed that the file was Modified: 3/14/2017 at 5:29:13 AM

10. FrameworkAssessment
According to the NBS Act (2007), these two documents (Code of
Practice and Data release policy) should be publicly available,
however the documents are not. The implication of this is that NBS
cannot be assessed based on its own standards and may be
subjected to other measures.
The NBS has a Data Release Calendar, which details all releases for the
year. However, modifications made to the Calendar were not
announced before or after. For instance, On January 6, 2017 the
Calendar was assessed and found to contain 164 report schedules,
when assessed again on March 14, 2017, it was found to contain 202
reports. As at March 17, 2017; the Calendar now contains 203 report
schedules.
Code of Practice
Data Release Calendar
Change in Release Schedule
Data Release Policy
INDICATOR RATING

11. Timeliness and PunctualityAssessment
Timeliness refers to the lapse of time between publication and the period to
which the data refer. Punctuality refers to the time lag between the actual
and planned dates of publication.
No.Report
Estimated
Release Date
Status
Date
Published
Time
Published
Remark
1 December 2016 HHK/Kerosene Price Watch 16-Jan-17 Published 13-Jan-17 No
2 December 2016 PMS/Petrol Price Watch 16-Jan-17 Published 13-Jan-17 No
3 December 2016 AGO/Diesl Price Watch 16-Jan-17 Published 13-Jan-17 No
4 December 2016 Consumer Price Index & Inflation 16-Jan-17 Published 13-Jan-17 No
5 Half Year 2016 States Internally Generated Revenue 18-Jan-17 Published 19-Jan-17 No
6 Q4 2016 Petroleum Product Importation and Consumption 20-Jan-17 Published 20-Jan-17 No
7 Q4 2016 Pension Industry Data: Registered Beneficiaries 23-Jan-17 Published 23-Jan-17 No
8 Q4 2016 Electricity Generation and Distribution 26-Jan-17 Published 27-Jan-17 No
9 December 2016 Monthly FAAC Disbursements 26-Jan-17 Published 31-Jan-17 No
10 Q4 2016 Financial Services Data 28-Jan-17 Published 27-Jan-17 No
11 Q4 2016 Electronic Payment Channels in the Nigerian Banking Sector 28-Jan-17 Not Published
12 Q4 2016 Nigerian Telecommunications Services Sector 30-Jan-17 Published 30-Jan-17 No
13 Q4 2016 Capital Importation 1-Feb-17 Published 1-Feb-17 No
14 2010 - 2015 Shipping and Port Related Activities Data 8-Feb-17 Published 7-Feb-17 No
15 2010 - 2015 Registered Products Data 8-Feb-17 Published 8-Feb-17 No
16 Fishing Output Data 2010 - 2015 10-Feb-17 Published 9-Feb-17 No
17
Electricity: Invoices and payments from Gencos to Discos and Offtakers
2016
12-Feb-17 Published 12-Feb-17 No
18 January 2017 Consumer Price Index & Inflation 15-Feb-17 Published 13-Feb-17 No
19 January 2017 AGO/Diesel Price Watch 15-Feb-17 Published 16-Feb-17 No
20 January 2017 PMS/Petrol Price Watch 15-Feb-17 Published 13-Feb-17 No
21 January 2017 HHK/Kerosene Price Watch 15-Feb-17 Published 16-Feb-17 No
22 January 2017 Transport fare price watch 15-Feb-17 Published 13-Feb-17 No
23 January 2017 Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) price watch 15-Feb-17 Published 16-Feb-17 No
24 JAMB admitted candidates by State and Gender within Faculty 2010-16 20-Feb-17 Published 20-Feb-17 No
25 Q4 2016 Gross Domestic Product by Output approach 28-Feb-17 Published 28-Feb-17 No
26 Q4 2016 VAT by Sector 3-Mar-17 Not Published
27 Q4 2016 External Trade Intensity and Re Export Analysis 10-Mar-17 Published 6-Mar-17 No
28 Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q4 2016) 10-Mar-17 Published 6-Mar-17 No
29 CRIME STATISTICS: Nigerian Prisons APRIL 2016* 10-Mar-17 Published 4-Nov-16 No
Date Published is assumed as the last Modified Date from the properties of the uploaded report Related reported shows November 2016 as modified date

12. Timeliness and PunctualityAssessment
No.Report
Estimated
Release Date
Status
Date
Published
Time
Published
Remark
30 Crime Statistics: Prison Inmates by State 2011 - 2015 12-Mar-17 Published 19-Jan-17 No
31 January 2017 Monthly FAAC Disbursements 13-Mar-17 Published 17-Mar-17 No
32 2016 State Disaggregated Mining and Quarrying Data 13-Mar-17 Published 12-Mar-17 No
33 2016 postal services data 14-Mar-17 Published 9-Mar-17 No
34 February 2017 Consumer Price Index & Inflation 14-Mar-17 Published 14-Mar-17 No
35 February 2017 AGO/Diesl Price Watch 14-Mar-17 Published 14-Mar-17 No
36 February 2017 PMS/Petrol Price Watch 14-Mar-17 Published 15-Mar-17 No
37 February 2017 HHK/Kerosene Price Watch 14-Mar-17 Published 14-Mar-17 No
38 February 2017 Transport fare price watch 14-Mar-17 Published 14-Mar-17 No
39 February 2017 Liquefied Petroleum Gas(cooking gas) price watch 14-Mar-17 Published 14-Mar-17 No
40 Febuary 2017 Selected Food Prices Watch 14-Mar-17 Published 16-Feb-17 No
41 Q4 2016 Airline and Passenger Travel 20-Mar-17 Not Published
42
2016 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey V : Report on Women and
Children
25-Mar-17 Not Published
43
2016 Road Transport Data: Road accidents and Vehicle and Drivers
license registration
25-Mar-17 Published 23-Mar-17 No
44 Annual Abstract of Statistics 2012-2015 28-Mar-17 Not Published
45 Q4 2016 Unemployment and Underemployment Watch 29-Mar-17 Not Published
46 February 2017 Monthly FACC Disbursements 31-Mar-17 Published 20-Mar-17 No
47 Q4 2016 Labour Productivity Report 31-Mar-17 Not Published
48 Q1 2017 Online Recruitment Service Report 31-Mar-17 Not Published
49 ECONOMIC RECOVERY GROWTH PLAN 2017-2020*
* Unplanned by the NBS
INDICATOR RATING
Date Published
31 Reports were published either on or before the estimated date in the calendar. 66%
6 Reports were published a day after their planned released date 13%
2 Reports were published several days after their planned released date 4%
8 Reports have not be published as planned 17%
Time Published Report do not have published time. 100%

13. Accessibility and ClarityAssessment
Accessibility is the ease with which users are able to access the data. It also
relates to the format(s) in which the data are available and the availability of
supporting information. Clarity refers to the quality and sufficiency of the
metadata, illustrations and accompanying advice.
INDICATOR DESCRIPTION
Ease of Report reusability Availability of Reports in different formats, e.g PDF, XLSX, CSV, TXT, etc
Report Download Ratio A measure of User likability of the report
Accompanying Metadata Availability of metadata - Metadata help users to make appropriate use of the data
Report Accessibility to all The accessibility of NBS report to all
Report Dissemination Report dissemination for public consumption
The availability of
reports in other
usable formats
makes it easy for
analysts and
other Data
enthusiasts to
interact with
data and
conducts further
analysis on NBS
reports.
A simpler statistic would
have been No. of web
hits; however number of
Download of each
reports also gives an idea
of the likability/relevance
of reports. The value is
calculated by finding the
difference between
published date and
March 31, 2017 and
dividing the number of
downloads by the value.
Metadata is a set of
data that describes
and gives information
about other data.
(Wikipedia)
Information such as
Title, Summary, Overall
design, Contributors,
etc. give users better
understanding about
the report.
For reports to have
maximum effect on
people, it must be
available and
accessible to as
many people as
possible. For now, NBS
reports are more
available via
electronic means –
the NBS website.
NBS reports are
disseminated to the
public in a more
engaging manner
via Social Media by
the Statistician-
General & the
official NBS twitter
handles.

14. Accessibility and ClarityAssessment
Ease of Report
reusability
 39 reports are available in PDF.
 It is however difficult to interact with (by copying and
reusing) some of the Tables in the report because they are
in image format and some are too tiny or blurry to read.
 The report for Selected Food Prices Watch (FEBRUARY 2017)
could not be downloaded.
 11 reports are available in Excel format.
 The Daily Energy Generated and Sent Out October -
December 2016 report could not be downloaded.
Report Reusability
INDICATOR RATING

15. Download Ratio Accessibility and ClarityAssessment
No.Report Published Date Days* Downloads Ratio
1 CPI and Inflation Report February 2017 14-Mar-17 17 5236 308.00
2 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) Febuary 2017 Disbursement 20-Mar-17 11 3104 282.18
3 JAMB Admitted Candidates by State and Gender within Faculty (2010-2016) 20-Feb-17 39 5795 148.59
4 Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report (Q4 2016) 28-Feb-17 31 4020 129.68
5 CPI and Inflation Report January 2017 13-Feb-17 46 2008 43.65
6 Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q4 2016) 6-Mar-17 25 825 33.00
7 CPI and Inflation Report December 2016 13-Jan-17 77 2440 31.69
8 Road Transport Data (2016) 23-Mar-17 8 244 30.50
9 Internally Generated Revenue At State Level (JANUARY TO JUNE 2016) 19-Jan-17 71 1803 25.39
10 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) January 2017 Disbursement 17-Mar-17 14 353 25.21
*Number of Days Report has been available till/before March 31, 2017
While the most downloaded Report is JAMB Applications & Admissions statistics
(approx. 149 reports/day), the Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report (Feb,
2017) has the highest download ration of 308 reports/day.
The FAAC February 2017 Disbursement has a download ratio of 282 reports/day
following the use of humor in communicating the report. This shows that
communication plays a very critical role in the use & understanding of data.
The three least downloaded reports are the December 2016 editions of the
Petroleum Product reports: Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) Price Watch (3.32), National
Household Kerosene Price Watch (3.06), and Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price
Watch (2.87).
Download Ratio
INDICATOR RATING

16. Accessibility and ClarityAssessment
Accompanying
Metadata
Metadata are fairly available for most Reports and
could be extracted from the Methodology section of
the report. Indicators need to be defined in Tables for
ease of reference.
Report Accessibility
to all
All reports are available and accessible on the NBS
Website – www.nigerianstat.gov.ng. With the number of
Internet Users and Literacy rate in the country, majority
may likely not be able to access the reports – especially
those in the rural areas.
Accompanying Metadata
INDICATOR RATING
Report Accessibility to all

17. Accessibility and ClarityAssessment
Report
Dissemination
The NBS reports are disseminated officially through their
Website and Twitter handles of NBS (@nigerianstat) and that
of the Statistician-General, Dr. Yemi Kale (@sgyemikale).
Report Dissemination
INDICATOR RATING
The Statistician-General has done the most engagement in terms of
dissemination and providing clarity on NBS Reports. More reports were posted
from his handle compared to the official handle. The question is: “WHAT
HAPPENS IN THE NEXT 5YRS IF A NOT TOO SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVY CEO TAKES
OVER?” The culture of public engagement need to be entrenched in the
institution for the sake of continuity of the current goodwill the NBS is enjoying
and the confidence it has restored in official statistics.

18. Release practicesAssessment
Statistical reports should be released into the public domain in an
orderly manner that promotes public confidence and gives equal
access to all, subject to relevant Legislation. - Protocol 2: Release
practices, Code of Practice for Official Statistics, UK.
The NBS data releases are governed by the Data Release Calendar,
however there are no set time or day of the week for releases. There is
need to establish a standard time and possibly a weekdays’ data
release process for more engagement and productive feedback.
Release practices
INDICATOR RATING
In addition, changes to the Data Release Calendar should be
publicised for ease of tracking of reports. Whenever it is not possible to
release reports as planned due to operational or data availability
challenge, communicating with Users on possible tentative dates will
further strengthen public trust and engagement.

19. SummaryAssessment
No. Indicator Rating
1 Code of Practice 0.0
2 Data Release Policy 0.0
3 Data Release Calendar 3.0
4 Change in Release Schedule 1.5
5 Date Published 1.5
6 Time Published 0.0
7 Report Reusability 1.5
8 Download Ratio 1.5
9 Accompanying Metadata 1.5
10 Report Accessibility to all 3.0
11 Report Dissemination 1.5
12 Release practices 0.0
Aggregate Score 18.0
NBS Score in Q1 = 41.67%

20. Recommendation
In addition to other recommendations;
 NBS should develop and disseminate its Code of Practice and Data Release Policy.
 Governments (Federal & State) must demonstrate their commitment to
development by substantially improve budgetary allocations to all Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDA) involved in data production for the National
Statistics Office.
 Equally, governments should increase the ability of the Federal School of Statistics to
focus more on the production of Statisticians.
 Establish a quarterly electronic survey for User feedback in terms of data relevance
and future data needs.
 NBS should publish its reports in non-proprietary formats that is reusable by users.
 The NBS to institutionalize the practice of engaging Users on its social media
platforms and communication of reports in more understandable formats.
 Synchronize report names on the release calendar with actual releases.
 NBS to embark on officeshows with other Agencies of Government in creating
awareness on the importance of data and make a case for MDA to equally budget
for research and production of statistics.
 Q1 reports are majorly Social and Economic reports, expand the scope of reporting
to cover Environmental issues. This is crucial in achieving the Sustainable
Development Goals (which covers Social, Economic and Environmental
Developments).
 Collaborate with State Statistics Offices for spread of reporting, especially showing
more of each State’s context in National Statistics.

21. Reference –
 The Statistics Act, 2007.
 Guidelines for measuring statistical quality, UK.
 Code of Practice for Official Statistics, UK.
Other Code of Practice;
 European Statistics Code of Practice.
 National Code of Good Practice for Statistics Office, DANE.
 UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.

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