2. Current Status of forest statistics in Nigeria

The institutional framework for forestry data production is somewhat decentralised as there are numerous statistical agencies compiling forestry statistics, albeit on ad-hoc basis. In order to fully appreciate the nature of the constraint faced by producers of forestry statistics may be it is convenient to first link the forest statistics to the National Statistical and information system.

The National Statistical and Information System (NSIS) is mainly concerned with compiling economic, social and demographic information in Nigeria. It is currently made up of the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS), National Population Commission (NPC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the statistical Divisions of the Planning, Research and Statistics Department (PRSD) of Federal Ministries and parastatals, State Statistical Agencies (SSAs), Local Government statistical Units (LGSUs) and the Organised Private Sector (DPS). In this set up as can be seen the role of the operational departments such as Forestry has not been given prominence and tends to be subsumed under the Department of Planning Research and Statistics of the Ministry; yet in the final evaluation the operational departments are expected to furnish the required statistical data on their respective sectors or sub-sectors to be compiled by the PRSDs. This is an omission under the present scheme of things especially as funding for statistical data production is concerned.

Forestry is on the concurrent legislative list in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and this implies that there is considerable scope for the various levels of government to approach the issue of statistical information in various ways which need to be harmonised.

As has been stated earlier, collection of forestry statistics especially on wood products is not well organised or systematised. Efforts at collecting information on wood products have been ad-hoc in Nigeria. Major surveys so far include:

Alviar 1983, under the auspices of FAO and Federal Department of Forestry.

Aruofor 1985, Federal Department of Forestry.

Omoluabi 1991, Federal Department of Forestry.

General Woods and Veneer consultants Ltd Canada as commissioned by the Federal Department of Forestry.

Federal Department of Forestry 1994 – Sector Survey

ADB assisted Forest Resources Study for Nigeria, by Beaks Consultant of Canada, 1998. Study prepared for FORMECU, Federal Department of Forestry.

Aruofor 2000, field visit for this report.

The information collected on wood products include, number of mills, installed capacities, production, recovery rates, inputs and prices of wood and wood products i.e. sawnwood, wood based panels, paper and paper boards. FOS collects and compiles a wide range of data, including those on national accounts, prices, external trade, industrial production and social and demographic data. In addition trade statistics i.e. import and information from all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Over the years, the FOS has evolved several Data Production systems, which include National Integrated Survey of Households (NISH), National Integrated Survey of Establishment (NISE) and Survey of Administrative Statistics (SAS). The production of Forestry sector related data should usually fall under the purview of NISE which is a viable system for collecting economic statistics dealing with the real sector activities such as output, capacity utilisation, value added etc. Exports are collected at the ports by Customs and Excise and are published by the Federal Office of Statistics.

Apart from organised surveys, at present forest sector data are collected and processed in one form or another at the following levels.

Federal Office of Statistics (FOS)

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

National Agricultural Data Bank (NADB)

Federal Department of Forestry (FDF)

Forestry Management, Evaluation and Co-ordinating Unit (FORMECU)

State Forestry Departments (SFDs)

Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN)

Universities

Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

2.1.1. Federal Office of Statistics

The Federal Office of Statistics (FOS) is the main Government agency with full mandate and responsibility for the collection of all statistical data. In the 1970’s. NISE provided detailed and concrete data on production of wood products but regrettably, these have been discontinued in later years as the utility of NISE is invariably driven by available funds.

FOS maintains offices in Abuja and Lagos and has offices in all the 36 States of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with permanent field staff for data collection. Among the usual publications produced by FOS are:

The annual abstract of statistics

Digest of Statistics

Nigerian Trade Summary

Review of External Trade

Social Statistics of Nigeria

Facts and Figures about Nigeria.

In all these publication, the forest sector statistics that are given credence relates to Forestry GDP and to a large extent trade statistics on forest products which are published in part in the Nigerian Trade summary. Regrettably, data on domestic production on wood and wood products as well as on capacity and capacity utilisation in forest industries are conspicuously absent in FOS publications. Existing data series on forest products are not only disappointing but are not comprehensive enough for overall forest resource planing and management, in terms of scope and content.

Recently, FOS is beginning to pass the bulk of the responsibility of collecting Forest sector statistics on the Federal Department of forestry that is not funded for this purpose. Many agencies, including FOS, approach the Federal Department of Forestry to furnish them with data on the forestry sector. This is a clear indication that the National Statistical Policy must recognise the crucial place occupied by the Operational Department in the scheme of things especially in connection with sectoral or sub-sectoral data collection and the need to put in place an appropriate funding mechanism and of providing an enabling environment.

2.1.1.1. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

The CBN is statutorily responsible for the compilation of money and banking and balance of payments statistics. However, although its primary data generation is in the area of money and Banking data, it also compiles some economic data to address the gaps existing in FOS data generation. In particular, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is involved in publishing information on the forestry sector. For example, the Central Bank Annual Report and Statement of Accounts contain statistics on the estimated production of roundwood, sawnwood, woodbased panels and paper and paper boards aggregated under the statistics on Agricultural commodities.

CBN maintains 5 zonal offices covering all States of the Federation, also with permanent staff for field data collection. At present, in order to reduce wastage, and curtail duplication of efforts, CBN is beginning to collaborate with FOS especially in the area of harmonisation of trade statistics, production of producer price index for Nigeria etc. In addition, CBN is also beginning to collaborate with the Federal Department of Forestry in respect of Forestry data collection. What has been missing in this latter collaboration is that it has not been backed by funds, which happens to be a major constraint to forestry data collection.

2.1.1.2. National Agricultural Data Bank (NADB)

The National Agricultural Data Bank (NADB) was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria through a collaborative effort between the Government of Nigeria and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project is housed under the umbrella of the Department of Planning Research and Statistics (DPRS) of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMA/RD).

The immediate objectives include:

To establish and develop in-house Professional Statistics expertise within DPRS/FMA&RD for an effective role in the organisation, co-ordination and guideline of agricultural statistics activities, build up data processing capabilities and facilities for the establishment of an agricultural data bank and organise training courses for data collection and processing.

To develop and implement a periodic reporting system for the DPRS through the involvement of available field extension staff of State Ministries of agriculture and others in the specified priority areas, etc.

The strategy was to set up three committees that were to act as the clearinghouse for all agricultural data produced in the country. These committees included:

State Agro-statistics Co-ordinating Committee (SASCCO).

The National Agro-statistics Co-ordinating Committee (NADSCCO),

The Technical Committee on Agricultural Data Management (TCADM), to assist NASCCO.

Even though the effect of these committees are at different stages of maturity, the paradigm where the Data Bank is not involved directly with funding the data collection outfits of operational departments e.g. Forestry planning Cell, does not augur well for forestry sector data collection. The existing arrangement has worked well for the agricultural crop, fisheries and livestock sub-sectors mainly because of the existence of agricultural extension workers in Agricultural Development Projects (ADP) that facilitate agricultural data collection. It has not worked at all for Forestry because the nature and configuration of data required for forestry planning and development are at variance with the other sub-sectors and so cannot be readily collected by extension workers as with agric. crop. In planning forestry, there is need to look at the primary resource base, the forest industries and their markets (trade) to plan them in concert. This means that forestry data collection cannot end at the primary level but must include forest industries and trade data. In this respect, it is easy to see that forestry data are generated at various levels viz.:

Institution – 36 States Forestry Departments, a Federal Capital Territory, Forestry Parastatals and the Federal Department of Forestry.

Forest Industries – Sawmills, plywood and Veneer mills, particleboard mills, Match Factories and Pulp and paper mills.

Indeed to collect some of these data require planning and design of surveys as well as the design and administration of various questionnaires. Even when data is collected they require processing before they can be available in the final or desired form. The NADB has been able to produce a detailed and comprehensive format for forestry data collection but what is not immediately obvious to the designer is that the required information cannot be captured simply or at one level of survey. The format needs to be de-segregated to suit specific data needs. Even though the NADB has been able to design a comprehensive forestry data collection format, regrettably, it has passed the onus of ensuring that the data are collected to the Federal Department of Forestry (the planning cell) that is not commensurately funded. This division of labour appears lopsided as the funds are elsewhere whereas the responsibility is some where else. It is possible for the planning cell of the Federal Department of Forestry to organise and collect these data, at least the expertise exist partly, but the unit is stymied by shortage of funds, slow communication and lack of working tools like computers and general logistic support.

Now that the FDF has been transferred to the new Federal Ministry of Environment conscious attention must be devoted to the production aspects of forestry and considerable effort made to collect the associated data generated at all tiers of Government.

2.1.1.3. The Federal Department of Forestry (FDF).

Although Forestry is on the concurrent list the Federal Department of Forestry (FDF) is by far the most eligible organisation in Nigeria that should co-ordinate the collection, publication and dissemination of forest sector statistics. The department has three tiers of administration: Headquarters, Zonal and State based Field Offices. Indeed the institutional structure of the FDF can facilitate forestry data collection throughout the country.

The Federal Department or Forestry in principle has a Forestry Sector Statistics Unit in the Forest Management Division with the responsibility for developing a continuous system of data collection, compilation, analysis, storage and publication, on a national level. This is more on paper than the reality. The function of the Statistical Unit is being partly carried out now by the Planning Unit (Cell) of the Department. The existing forestry data bank and data bases have been compiled informally through infrequent surveys, ad-hoc studies, complemented by monthly, quarterly and annual returns from Field Offices of the Department located in each of the 36 State Capitals and the FCT. The Field offices are expected to liase closely with State Forestry Services and Forest Industries in respect of data collection. There remains room for improvements.

With appropriate funding, right infrastructure including means of mobility (vehicles) and equipment (computers, copiers, telephones, fax machines, stationery and general logistic supports, the existing structure of the Department with the Planning Unit (cell), co-ordination could be exploited to the utmost advantage as far as forest statistics goes. Various efforts have been made at collecting and publishing forest sector statistics but such efforts have died a natural death due to lack of adequate support.

The Federal Department of Forestry needs to collect forestry data on a continuous basis and to this end; the Planning Unit based in Abuja needs to be strengthened to cope with this important role.

2.1.1.4. Forestry Management, Evaluation and Co-ordinating Unit (FORMECU)

FORMECU is a parastatal of the Federal Department of Forestry. With the establishment of the new Federal Ministry of Environment, the Unit is proposed to be reincorporated into the main stream of the Federal Department of Forestry as a full Division. FORMECU was originally established to co-ordinate World Bank assisted forestry projects, but with the passage of time, it took on wider responsibilities of co-ordinating foreign assisted forestry projects including ADB, FAO, FORD FOUNDATION and a host of others. Because of the nature of her mandates, FORMECU has never really been able to address the question of forest sector statistics on a continuing basis. Most interventions in this direction have been in response to needs with the result that they are ad-hoc in nature. Indeed most of the major studies that have generated useful data on the sector have emanated from FORMECU in collaboration with the parent Department FDF.

FORMECU generates forestry data through project monitoring and evaluation and undertakes in its programmes institutions capacity building and manpower development for the three tiers of forestry services in the country.

As conscious effort to generate forestry statistics, the Federal Department of Forestry undertook an indicative forest inventory of the natural high forest of the country in the 1970’s. It undertook another comprehensive forest resources study between 1994 and 1998, that was financed by the African Development Bank (ADB). The Study covered the natural forests, plantations, non-timber forest products, forest industries, markets, etc. Also other studies in the kitty of the FDF and FORMECU are the Environmental Forestry Project (EMP) with World Bank funding between 1992 – 1996, to revise our land use and vegetation maps through satellite imageries; National Forestry Action programme (NFAP) between 1991 – 1996. Arising from these projects, a Forest Information System (FIS) has been established as a national Forestry data bank in the FDF located in FORMECU.

However, it will appear that all the above efforts call for the need to collect wood based data on a continuing basis.

2.1.1.5. Other Institutions

The other institutions, which collect and publish forestry data, include State Forestry Departments, Forest Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), Universities and Non-Governmental Organisations. These are also ad-hoc in nature and are driven by needs, some of which are research oriented, as well as the need to respond to the execution of specific projects.

The State Forestry Departments in particular are the custodians of the Forestry Estate of Nigeria and this places the onus of managing the forest on them. Some of these States have uniform staff (Forest Guards) who collect data o n timber logged in terms of number and volume as well as revenue accruing thereof. However, such information where available are disjointed. The result of these separate approaches has been that a lot of information exists in various scattered sources, which need to be collected and published.