By Gbenga Abulude
The Akwa Ibom State Government has rejected the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report which listed it as the second state with the highest unemployment rate in the country.
The state government in a statement released by Mr Ini Ememobong, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, on Saturday, described the NBS report as unacceptable.
He said the state government will engage the NBS to find out how they arrived at their conclusion.
The statement reads in part, “The reality on ground in our state is in contradiction to the Bureau’s report.
“As a responsible government, we intend to engage the National Bureau of Statistics, to ascertain the veracity of their processes and results, particularly, we will seek answers to the following questions:
“What was the sample size used in the survey? What was the spatial spread of the sample? What population figure did they use to obtain the percentage recorded for Akwa Ibom? What quality assurance mechanisms did they employ? What was the temporal spread of the data used in the analyses?”
The NBS had on Thursday released a report showing unemployment rate in Nigeria had rose to 27.1 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020.
It also listed Imo as the state with the highest rate of unemployment at 48.7 per cent, followed by Akwa Ibom and Rivers with 45.2 per cent and 43.7 per cent respectively.
