The National Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with UNICEF, has commenced field activities for the seventh round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey.

A statement by NBS on Wednesday, said that the exercise would hold between now and March 2026.

The statement said that the exercise would generate data to support policy-making and guide targeted development interventions in areas such as child health, nutrition, education and other welfare indicators.

It described MICS as a globally recognised household survey programme designed to produce statistically sound and internationally comparable data on women and children.

The statement said that the survey provided insights on child protection, schooling, healthcare access, water and sanitation, as well as household living conditions.

It said that the results were also used to track progress under national and international development frameworks, including the Renewed Hope Agenda, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The statement said that the seventh round of the survey would provide Nigeria’s most comprehensive dataset on the conditions of children, women and vulnerable groups.

“Conducted every five years, MICS7 will generate indicators at national and state levels across the 36 states and the FCT, helping to close critical data gaps and strengthen evidence-based decision-making,” it said.

It said that trained NBS interviewers would visit selected households using digital tools to gather accurate information.

Meanwhile, the statistician-feneral of the federation, Adeyemi Adeniran, said that MICS remained Nigeria’s trusted tool for understanding the lives of women and children since 1995.

Mr Adeniran said that it was turning complex realities into hard numbers that drive policy and progress.

UNICEF’s deputy representative to Nigeria, Rownak Khan, said that the survey had been the country’s leading source of disaggregated information on women and children since its inception.

The NBS and UNICEF appealed for the cooperation of households nationwide in providing accurate responses to interviewers as fieldwork progresses till March, 2026. 

(NAN)