Ten days have elapsed since the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s set deadline to launch the anticipated Rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reports, yet the agency has remained silent.

At a sensitisation workshop in Lagos in January, held in collaboration with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), the NBS had assured the public of its forthcoming release.

“I would like to assure all Nigerians that the expected Rebased CPI Report will be the best of its kind and will provide further insights into the Nigerian economy,” stated Prince Semiu Adeyemi, the Statistician General and Chief Executive Officer of the NBS.

According to the agency, the full details of the reports were scheduled to be available by the end of January 2025.

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UPDATE ON ECONOMIC PARAMETERS

The planned rebasing represents a significant update for Nigeria’s economic indicators. The process involves updating the base year used to measure price changes and economic growth.

Presently, Nigeria has relied on 2009 as its base year for CPI calculations. Effective January 2025, this benchmark was set to shift to 2024, with the weight reference period adjusted to 2023.

The update is designed to capture the evolving consumption patterns and structural changes in the economy, ensuring that inflation and growth data more accurately reflect current realities.

Additionally, the NBS promised improvements in data collection by moving to a fully digital system, incorporating online retail data and conducting a full census of retail outlets.

The basket of goods and services used for the CPI was also to expand — from 760 items to 960 — while a new classification system, replacing the 2018 COICOP standard, was set to be introduced.

This comprehensive overhaul is aimed at aligning Nigeria’s statistical methods with international best practices and ensuring periodic rebasing every five years.

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DELAYED COMMUNICATION

Despite the clear roadmap outlined by the agency, there has been a conspicuous absence of any formal communication or press release regarding the report’s status.

This silence mirrors a similar episode earlier this year when the NBS website experienced downtime. During that incident, stakeholders and the public were left in the dark as the agency refrained from providing updates on the restoration process.

Delays in releasing timely inflation data force policymakers to rely on outdated information, which can lead to either excessive tightening or insufficient intervention.

In short, without current data, central banks risk making decisions that either overcorrect or fail to address economic shifts effectively.

At press time, FIJ could not find a contact address for the NBS directorate of communications on the website. When FIJ contacted Lucky Ogidan, whose contact was listed on the National Data Archive Portal, he told FIJ that he had retired and could not speak for the agency.