The Kano State government has rejected a report containing figures on the state’s population, industries, mosques, churches, and the number of underage children without parents roaming its streets.
A statement signed by the Director-General of the Kano State Bureau for Statistics (KSBS), Suraj Suleiman, noted that the report did not emanate from the Bureau and was not related to any of its official statistical findings.
“The publication contains misleading and unsubstantiated claims regarding the population of Kano State, the number of industries, mosques, churches, and the population of underage children allegedly roaming the streets without parents,” the statement declared.
The statement added that, “For the avoidance of doubt, the number of active industries, including micro, small, medium and large-scale enterprises – currently (in the state) stands at 3,632 based on the validated industry census conducted by KANINVEST in collaboration with the Bureau and not 58.”
The disclaimer also stated that the report was wrong on the number of worship places in the state, adding that it failed to provide any credible evidence to validate its claim regarding the number of worship places.
The Bureau also described as false, grossly exaggerated, and unsupported by official statistics the claim by the report that the state has a total of 3.67 million parentless, underage children roaming its streets.
According to the Bureau, “A validated KSBS mapping exercise identified 6,573 street beggars in the state, of whom only 457 (7 per cent) were children aged 9-10 years.”
The Bureau cautioned individuals, organisations, research institutions and development partners intending to conduct statistical surveys or data collection exercises to obtain prior clearance and official approval from the Bureau.
The Bureau challenged the publisher of the report, Garba Adamu, to make public his research methodology, data sources, and any evidence supporting the publication, while urging him to retract the report and issue a public correction within 48 hours.
