Drop in Nigeria’s inflation has no practical significance –Statistician

Olusanya Olubusoye, a statistician, says the 0.06 per cent drop in consumer price index in March has no practical significance for the living standard of Nigerians.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the National Bureau of Statistics had, on Tuesday, said the CPI, which measures inflation, decreased to 11.25 per cent (year-on-year) in March 2019.

According to the bureau, this is 0.06 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in February 2019 (11.31) per cent.

Olubusoye, a lecturer at the Department of Statistics, University of Ibadan, said this in an interview with NAN in Abuja on Wednesday.

“Does it translate to low cost of living in Nigeria at the moment? The answer is no. Does it translate to cheaper cost of transportation?

“Does it translate to more food on the table for ordinary Nigerians? Does it translate to lower cost of housing and accommodation?

“Does it translate to better health care delivery? I think we need to stop this ritual of monthly inflation figures that appear to contradict the reality in the standard of living of the average Nigerian.

“Can’t we think of other statistics which truly reflect our situation for purpose of reporting,’’ he said.

The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.

The construction of the CPI combines economic theory, sampling and other statistical techniques using data from other surveys to produce a weighted measure of average price changes in the Nigerian economy.