On the Quality of Age and Sex Data in the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria Using the 2006 Census: Caution for the Upcoming Count

Abstract

This study focuses on the quality of age and sex data in the 774 local government areas of Nigeria (except Kaura LGA, not published) using the 2006 census. The results indicate that all of the LGAs had very poor-quality age and sex data. The North-West state of Sokoto had the worst United Nations Joint Score (96.95), while Edo State in the South-South had the least Joint Score (22.81) among the states, indicating a better quality of data. Ukwuani LGA produced the best JS of 22.79, while Abadam LGA in the NorthEast state of Borno generated the worst JS of 162.54. The northern region of Nigeria is home to 330 (82.3%) of the 401 LGAs classified as grossly inaccurate based on the Joint Scores. Similarly, 50 out of the 60 LGAs with a UN JS above 100 are in the Northern Region. The notion that the Northern Region of Nigeria is larger than the Southern Region in population size may be a product of massive misreporting and random allocation of ages during the 2006 population census, as clearly seen in the NW and NE zones of Nigeria. Education of the populace, training and proper emoluments of enumerators and supervisors, punishment of census offenders, and digitization of the census process are recommended in the forthcoming census in Nigeria.