PDP:Buhari pressuring Dr. Yemi Kale to falsify genuine statistics of unemployment

Unemployment hits 15.9 m, 18.8%

ABUJA, Nigeria- The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the alleged directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Statistician General of Nigeria, Dr. Yemi Kale, to change the data on unemployment in the country and create impression of massive job creation by his administration, as a horrible corruption.

The latest statistics released by the statistician general revealed that unemployment has reached 18.8 percent, the 12th consecutive rise since last quarter of 2014.

“In absolute numbers, the number of people who were unemployed had increased to an estimated 15.9 million, while the underemployed were at about 18 million (21.2%)”, Africa check said of the statistics.

The PDP condemned in totality, what it described as brazen attempt to manipulate official statistics in favour of Buhari’s administration saying it is a new low in the APC-led government’s established culture of deceit, falsehood and criminal subterfuge, in its desperation to hang on to power.

“In this desperation, the Buhari Presidency is now trying to force the Statistician General of Nigeria to alter genuine data and smuggle in fictitious employment figures. Our party holds that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is a professional body, insulated from government interferences, with statutory responsibility to compute credible and verifiable data and statistics, for national planning.

“The PDP is therefore shocked at this attempt by the Buhari Presidency to corrupt our system through the falsification of employment statistics just to shore up its failed economic policies that have brought untold hardship on the Nigerian people”, the party said, adding that Nigerians can now see why the Buhari Presidency has deliberately starved the NBS of funds; to prevent it from conducting surveys and releasing further data that highlight the failures of the APC administration.

It added that President Buhari appears to have forgotten that statistics is like a mirror.

“If the government does not like the ugliness of its reflection, then the problem is not with the mirror. If the NBS backs down for political expediency or intimidation, it would have dealt a mortal blow to the credibility of official statistics emanating from Nigeria. In the future, such official reports from it would be regarded worthless and unreliable.

“We therefore call on the Statistician General not to succumb to the blackmail of the Buhari Presidency but remain on the path of truth and facts, in the course of his duty”, the PDP said,