CBN Headoffice

OnyebuchiEzigbo

The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has described as very worrisome, the decision of the Nigerian Bureau for Statistics (NBS) to disown the result of its opinion poll on the proposed introduction of N5,000 note by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The party said by engaging in opinion somersault, the Bureau has unwittingly given Nigerians cause to doubt the validity of its often-criticised national economic growth statistics.

In a statement issued Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Emma Eneukwu, said the denial of opinion poll calls to question the competence of the Statistician General of the Federation as a statistician serving a nation of more than one hundred and fifty million multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-creed peoples.

“The ANPP therefore calls on the National Assembly to summon the Statistician General of the Federation for him to explain the sources and methodologies of his statistical processes, as the denial of opinion poll calls to question his competence as a statistician serving a nation of more than one hundred and fifty million multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-creed peoples,” he said.
According to the opinion poll carried out by NBS on the new CBN policy, 75 per cent Nigerians opposed the introduction of N5,000 notes, while 6.1 per cent of the Nigerian populace was in strong support.

About 4.62 per cent are partially in support and against the currency restructuring, respectively.

However, Eneukwu said the rejoinder signed by the NBS management tried to explain the opinion survey as an interactive tools on their website and data portal used  to engage users of our statistical data.

He also quoted the NBS as having insisted that the said poll is not an official statistical tool “because it is not based on any statistical methodologies or systems that formulate the basis on which all of the NBS’ surveys are developed.”