NBS Website Crashes Again, Delays Release of Rebased GDP and CPI Figures

The anticipation surrounding the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) promise to unveil Nigeria’s rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) by the end of January 2025 is waning, as the bureau’s official website has once again gone offline.

 This latest setback comes just weeks after the site was restored following a 29-day outage caused by a cyberattack in late 2023.

The NBS had announced in October 2023 that it was finalizing the rebasing of the GDP and CPI, citing the need to reflect the dynamic nature of Nigeria’s economy, including periods of growth and recession. The bureau emphasized that the rebasing would provide a more accurate and insightful picture of the nation’s economic landscape. Stakeholder engagement workshops were held across key cities like Lagos and Abuja to explain the importance of the exercise.

The last GDP rebasing was conducted in 2014, using 2010 as the base year, while the CPI was last rebased in 2009. This time, the NBS selected 2019 as the base year for GDP, citing the availability of comprehensive sector-specific data and the relative economic stability experienced that year.

However, January 2025 has come and gone without any update from the NBS regarding the release of the rebased figures. The bureau’s website, which briefly came back online on January 15 to publish the December 2023 CPI data, is now inaccessible again, leaving stakeholders and the public in the dark.

Attempts to reach the NBS spokesperson, Mr. Sunday Ichedi, for clarification were unsuccessful. Despite reading messages sent to his WhatsApp number, he has yet to respond or provide an explanation for the delay or the website’s recurring issues.

The repeated technical challenges and lack of communication have raised concerns about the NBS’s ability to deliver on its mandate, further eroding public confidence in the agency’s capacity to provide a timely and reliable economy.