NIMRA steps up to fill gap as NBS website hack sparks debate on data accessibility

The Nigerian Marketing Research Association (NIMRA) has pledged to provide alternative sources of economic data following the prolonged inaccessibility of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website, which was reportedly hacked on December 18, 2024.

NIMRA President, Seyi Adeoye, described the incident as a wake-up call for increased private sector involvement in the collection and dissemination of critical economic data to support informed decision-making for businesses and government.

“(The NBS website hack) just shows that it is important for private practitioners within the data analytics space to do a lot more and also collaborate more closely with NBS and with all the global organisations also interested in having data about Nigeria and the economy, like the World Bank,” Adeoye said. He stressed the importance of diversifying data sources to ensure resilience and accessibility.

Adeoye revealed NIMRA’s plan to launch a series of initiatives aimed at bridging the data gap. These include organizing forums, conducting household expenditure surveys, and generating socioeconomic classification data to improve the quality of information available for national planning. “What happened with NBS just totally brought it to the fore and in our face more, that this cannot be the case. It’s not ideal. It’s not what is obtainable in other climes; we need to change that.

“And we will do that. That’s the commitment I’m putting out. We’re actively starting from having consultations and then beginning to roll out the studies and put the data out there into the public domain. The private sector and the government will begin to use those data points to plan,” he stated.

During NIMRA’s 2024 Annual General Meeting, the association outlined its commitment to championing reliable data and market insights as part of its contribution to Nigeria’s economic development. Adeoye further underscored the need for multiple local data-gathering bodies to foster robust analysis and comparison. “Look at the International Monetary Fund and then you have the World Bank. All of them (put) estimate out and everything and then you compare, right? But there’s no comparison with NBS and that’s it pretty much. That will change this year,” he noted.

The NIMRA president also called for greater investment in cybersecurity to protect critical data infrastructure, emphasizing the global nature of cyber threats. “I think the U.S. Treasury also, their own data collateral was hacked and they came out and said it was China. The real focus should then be that for assets like NBS, we must employ and deploy the highest standard of cyber security possible so that some guys will not get crazy and attack.

“As you know, if you can create it, it can be dismantled. If human beings are the ones writing the codes to protect it, it means they (hackers) also know that there are back walls that they can go through to bring it down.

“We have to put our best foot forward all the time. If we’re going to have this kind of (data) on NBS and our portals, then it must be best-in-class cyber security that we deploy,” Adeoye asserted.

Meanwhile, NBS spokesperson Joel Ichedi clarified that the agency’s website was not permanently shut down but faced delays due to the holiday season.

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