The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) has dismissed the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report on unemployment, calling it a “voodoo document” and a “fabrication designed to mislead the public”.

The NBS yesterday announced a decline in Nigeria’s unemployment rate to 4.3% in Q2 2024, down from 5.3% recorded in Q1 2024 and 5.0% in Q3 2023.

The SNB said the labor force participation rate rose to 79.5% in Q2 2024 from 77.3% in the previous quarter, indicating increased labor force engagement, while the employment-to-population ratio improved , also significantly, rising to 76.1% from 73.2% in Q1 2024.

The report noted the dominance of self-employment, which accounted for 85.6 percent of total employment, up from 84 percent in the previous quarter. Informal employment also rose to 93.0%, underscoring the economy’s reliance on informal jobs.

The SNB added that urban unemployment fell to 5.2% from 6.0% in Q1, while rural unemployment was 2.8%, down from 4.3%. This disparity reflects the role of agriculture and informal activities in rural employment compared to urban areas’ reliance on formal employment.

According to the report; the youth unemployment rate (aged 15-24) fell significantly to 6.5%, compared to 8.4% in Q1 2024.

Meanwhile, NLC Deputy General Secretary Chris Onyeka described the report as a “voodoo document” and accused the NBS of manipulating figures to mislead the public.

Onyeka also described the report as “a figment of the imagination concocted by people who want to manipulate figures” and labeled it “INEC-style manipulation”, a term he used to draw parallels between perceived shortcomings in the management Nigerian elections and NBS figures.

He further challenged the NBS to back up his claims, stating “Unemployment cannot go down in Nigeria when factories close shop”.

Onyeka added that the unemployment rate “cannot go down when there is an increase in inventories” and “reduced consumer spending”.

He noted that, if anything, unemployment is on the rise, noting, “Where are the jobs coming from? Is it from employers complaining about consumer resistance and slowing economic activity? It doesn’t add up,” Onyeka said.

“Once data doesn’t reflect reality, it loses relevance. Unfortunately, the SNB has lost its credibility as a result of the data it continues to release,” he said.

However, Onyeka noted that Nigerians can go to court if they do not like the figures presided over by NBS, adding that “NBS has become a failed institution just like INEC in the eyes of the public”.