DOZENS of data-driven reports were produced by The ICIR in 2023, highlighting issues that affected Nigeria’s economy, policies, environments, and security among others.
Beyond showcasing the latest issues, some of these reports exposed, analysed or critiqued issues with data across every sector of the country. The data stories were extracted from secondary sources produced by the country’s or international data agencies.
Here are some of the reports.
Economy
The year started with Nigerians confronted with the crises posed by the naira redesign policy, which the government said was initiated to reduce the currency in circulation.
The Central Bank of Nigeria said that due to the policy, the currency in circulation dropped from N3.29 trillion in October 2022 to N1.38 trillion as of January 2023. However, the policy flopped as hawkers began to sell the resigned notes due to poor circulation and Nigerians faced unprecedented difficulty accessing the naira note.
The policy affected the country’s inflation rate, which increased to 21.82 per cent in January 2023 from 21.34 per cent as of December 2022.
However, several policies by former President Muhammadu Buhari and incumbent President Bola Tinubu contributed to the sustained rise in the inflation rate, which peaked under Tinubu at 28.2 per cent in November – the highest in 18 years.
For Buhari, The ICIR reported how the inflation rate rose 59 times under his watch, while Tinubu’s policies set a new inflation record in 20 years.
Also, when the National Bureau of Statistics disclosed the country’s public debt of N87.38 trillion as of the second quarter of 2023, The ICIR analysis showed that the debt per capita for every Nigerian stood at N396,376. The debt grew due to poor revenue generation and overdependence on loans, with five states leading the chart. For instance, only three states pulled nearly half of the IGR generated in 2022.
Another analysis showed how 31 states survived more on federal allocation than revenue amidst poor ranking on fiscal transparency.
Similarly, within the year, there were concerns around budget and allocations made by the government. Buhari signed N21.8 trillion as the budget for 2023. Despite the considerably high amount, compared with the budgets for the past eight years, two additional supplementary budgets were signed for the year.
One of the reports was on recession fears, and another on some projects allocated to ministries outside their mandates.
There was a report on N819.5 billion supplementary budget passed by the 9th Assembly but hijacked by the Assembly leaders when Tinubu requested a review.
The Assembly also signed another N2.17 trillion supplementary budget before receiving the 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion from Tinubu in late November.
At the state level, while more than 30 states have proposed N14.04 trillion as the budget for 2024, there are concerns about poor implementation.
Politics
Nigeria held three elections in 2023: the Presidential/National Assembly, governorship/House of Assembly, and off-cycle elections in three states, namely Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo. The results, however, came with several controversies and court rulings.
Tinubu defeated 17 other candidates in the presidential election to emerge as the winner, pulling 8.79 million votes. Despite 93.5 million eligible voters, 25.3 per cent voted. At the state level, gubernatorial elections were conducted in 28 states of which 18 candidates emerged as new governors while ten governors were re-elected into office for a second term.
The ICIR analysis on the off-cycle elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states showed that only 36 per cent of voters participated.
The ICIR also looked into the appointment of ministers, commissioners and aides by the President and state governors. The report showed how much it would cost to offset the salaries of ministers or special advisers.
Security
For more than a decade, Nigeria has battled with insecurity issues. The ICIR’s findings showed that under Buhari’s administration for eight years, more than 31,000 people were killed by insecurity attacks, and even after a new President was sworn in, the attacks continued.
For instance, this organisation tracked the insecurity issues in the South-East region and learnt how two people were killed daily between 2021 and 2022. Another report documented how N302 million was paid as ransom in one year and the cost of getting kidnapped in Nigeria.
In 2023, more than 7,000 people were killed from insecurity-related causes as of the time of filing this report on December 22, while thousands of others died in road crash accidents and boat mishaps.
The ICIR data also revealed how the President intended to spend 6.93 per cent of its budget on improving security.
Environment and Health
Following the announcement of a looming flood in Nigeria, The ICIR reviewed the ecological funds given to states by the Federal Government and issues that made the Federal Capital Territory susceptible to a cholera crisis.
Also, this organisation mapped out areas that are prone to flooding after an incident in the Federal Capital Territory.
Another notable data report was on the Climate Change Conference in the United Arab Emirates, where Nigeria had the highest number of delegates sponsored by the government.
Other policies checked with data
The ICIR reported on issues around palliative distribution which Tinubu announced in his several speeches.
The ICIR looked at the feasibility of sharing N8,000 for poor Nigerians, what N110 billion lawmakers’ palliative and N218 million holiday allowance’ could do for Nigeria.
This organisation also examined the data on frivolous lawsuits against media houses, and how over 100 ministries, departments and agencies fail torespond to Freedom of Information Requests (FOI).
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at jameskennyogunyale@gmail or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames | LinkedIn: Kehinde Ogunyale