Nigeria - Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey MICS3 (2007), Nigeria, Third round

version 1.2

2008-08-26

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was conceptualized to monitor the progress of Child Survival,

Development, Protection and Participation (CSDPP) Programme as well as to serve as means of data

generating mechanism for measuring the achievement and gaps in the targets of the millennium development

goals (MDGs), particularly as it may affect the children and women. At the World Summit for Social

Development in 1995, the need was also stressed for better social statistics if social development had to

move to centre stage for the cause of the children of the world.

The first in the series of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS1) was conducted in 1995 by the

Federal Office of Statistics (FOS), now National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), with technical and funding

assistance from UNICEF. Since then, MICS has been institutionalized within the National Integrated Survey

of Households (NISH) in the National Bureau of Statistics, as a process of collecting regular, reliable and

timely social statistics. The second round of MICS was conducted in 1999 with a better strategy for the

execution of the survey from planning to report writing. Expectedly, the current edition of the Multiple

Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS3) was better planned, executed and has achieved the aim of providing

reliable data for monitoring progress of the Nigerian children and women, and the Millennium Development

Goals.

This report would have been impossible without the commitment of UNICEF, which provided technical and

financial assistance for the project. Worthy of mention also is the significant contribution of the officials

from UNICEF, Nigeria, namely: the Representative Mr. Ayalew Abai, Dr. Ahmed El Bashir Ibrahim (Chief,

Planning & Communication) and Mr. Johnson Awotunde, M&E Specialist. The National Bureau of Statistics

acknowledges the support and cooperation from all other stakeholders who took part in the project in various

forms. These include the National Planning Commission, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal

Ministry of Education, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the Federal Ministry of Information and

Communication, the National Population Commission, various Non Government Oganizations. Others

include UNDP, DFID, World Bank and the MDG Office.

This report is based on the Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, conducted in 2007 by the National

Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria with financial and technical support from UNICEF, Nigeria. The survey

which was Nigeria copy of global MICS3 was a response to the needs to monitor progress towards goals and

targets emanating from recent international agreements including the Millennium Declaration, adopted by all

191 United Nations Member States in September 2000, and the Plan of Action of A World Fit For Children,

adopted by 189 Member States at the United Nations Special Session on Children in May 2002. Both of

these commitments build upon promises made by the international community at the 1990 World Summit for

Children.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has in recent times launched a number of development initiatives to

improve the economic and social life of its people. The National Programme for the Eradication of Poverty

(NAPEP) is concerned with strategies for poverty reduction; the National Action Committee on HIV/AIDS

(NACA) has the mandate for planning, implementing and monitoring programmes for control of HIV/AIDS;

the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) focuses on wealth creation,

employment generation, corruption elimination and general value orientation; the state and local government

extensions of NEEDS are State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (SEEDS) and Local

Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS) respectively. These and other programmes

are commitments towards targets as those contained in the Millennium Development Goals.

The Federal Government has also expressed strong commitment to, and declared as a matter of high priority,

efforts to monitor and evaluate progress towards the attainment of the benchmarks established in these

national and other global goals. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) with financial and technical support

from international development partners and donors like UNICEF has been involved in this effort through

provision of relevant data to monitor, evaluate and advise necessary adjustments in development policies and

programmes. The NBS, in recent times had conducted a number of national sample surveys mostly within

global generic contexts. The Nigeria Living Standard Survey (NLSS), the General Household Survey (GHS),

the Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire Survey (CWIQ) and the 1999 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey

(MICS2) are examples. MICS Nigeria 2007 has been designed to measure progress towards achievements of

the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and other international targets like the Abuja Declaration on

malaria which are mainstreamed into the above-stated national commitments. Nigeria’s MICS3 is, therefore,

bound to improve the country’s data base and provide a valuable tool for evidence-based planning to

surmount its development challenges.

More specifically, MICS Nigeria 2007 should assist monitoring and evaluating UNICEF country

programmes including those on immunization, vitamin A supplementation, child development, child and

women rights and protection among others. The survey should also build survey capability and enhance data

analysis experience at the NBS. This executive summary report presents results on principal topics covered

in MICS Nigeria 2007 expressed in outcome and impact indicators1 that are important for designing,

monitoring and evaluating progress of national programmes and provide a means for comparing the situation

in Nigeria with that in other countries.

2. Survey Objectives

MICS Nigeria 2007 should provide up-to-date information on the situation of children and women in

Nigeria, strengthen national statistical capacity by focusing on data gathering, quality of survey information,

statistical tracking and analysis, contribute to the improvement of data and monitoring systems in Nigeria

and strengthen technical expertise in the design, implementation, and analysis of such systems. The survey

should also furnish data needed for monitoring progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, and

targets of A World Fit for Children (WFFC) among others, measure progress towards achievements of the

goals of NEEDS and its state and local government extensions, provide statistics to complement and assess

the quality of data from recent national surveys like Nigeria Living Standard Survey (NLSS), Nigeria Core

Welfare Indicator Questionnaires (CWIQ) and the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).

1 For more information on the definitions, numerators, denominators and algorithms of Multiple Indicator

Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicators covered in the survey: see

Chapter 1, Appendix 1 and Appendix 7 of the MICS Manual – Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Manual 2005:

Monitoring the Situation of Children and Women, also available at www.childinfo.org

Sample survey data [ssd]

Individual, Household