The most recent findings, according to NBS, were not intended to boost the image of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration but rather to call attention to the methodology employed to carry out labour surveys across the country.

According to the NBS’s most recent reports, which was published as of the fourth quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate in the country was 33.3%.

The 13th ICLS, which was created and adopted in 1982 at the International Conference of Labour Statisticians, was used for the most recent survey.

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.

However, it was made known on Thursday in Abuja at the launch of the revised methodology that the new figure aligns Nigeria’s Labour Survey with global norms.

The organization said that 26 African countries had adopted the survey, which was carried out in conjunction with the World Bank and the International Labour Organization.