A FORMER governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chukwuma Charles Soludo during the Anambra state gubernatorial debate said the state has the lowest unemployment and underemployment rates in Nigeria.
Soludo who is a candidate in the election slated for November 6, said “Anambra state has the lowest unemployment of any state in Nigeria at 13 per cent” and that “Anambra state has the lowest under-employment rate at 17 per cent of any state in Nigeria”.
He clarified that he was making reference to 2020 and his source is the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
THE CLAIMS
Anambra State has the lowest unemployment rate 13 per cent and the lowest underemployment rate at 17 per cent of any state in Nigeria.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claims are misleading because Soludo made reference to an old set of data.
The data he referenced are actually from the second quarter (Q2) of 2020.
The 2020 Q2 data showed that Anambra has the lowest of unemployment rate at 13.1 per cent and also the lowest underemployment rate at 17 per cent.
After the Q2 labour statistics, the NBS released the Q4 statistics.
In the Q4 data, Anambra’s unemployment rate is 44.23 per cent while the underemployment rate is 16.48 per cent.
Furthermore, Anambra was not the lowest as Osun has 11.65 per cent unemployment rate, while Lagos has 4.52 per cent underemployment rate.
THE VERDICT
The claims made by Soludo at the debate that Anambra has the lowest unemployment rate at 13 per cent and the lowest underemployment rate at 17 per cent of any state in Nigeria are MISLEADING.
EDITORS NOTE:
The verdict was updated from True to Misleading.
The report was updated with NBS Q4 2020 data.
