_51_ assets the poor lose first, when coping with survival crises. The lack of these indicators makes it difficult to build up an understanding of the capabilities and resources of the poor - in terms of physical assets and human resource endowment. The survey should include some limited information on household expenditures, solely to provide the means to group households into approximate expenditure quintiles. One rather overwhelming lesson which the research team learned is the complexity, cost and time-consuming nature of analyzing two years of a National Consumer Survey. Expenditure coding was overwhelmingly large. With 1600 codes for household expenditure, one cannot do this type of research without questioning whether these codes could not be aggregated into 50100 key expenditure items, same as the items for which prices are collected.

Another key lesson for the team has been the fact that the Nigerian statistical system is in need of a major overhaul. A complete review of the system is crucial, not only for poverty monitoring, but for the basic information needed to understand welfare in Nigeria.

The data used in this study was particularly weak with respect to information on women. Gender analysis in the paper was limited because of the nature of the data set. In most surveys, and the present one is no exception, women are liable to be missing. This invisibility does not only refer to failure to count women, but also to the way questions are posed and coded. For example, in so far as it is true that men are more likely than women to be participants in the modern sector, then, a focus on that sector will exclude women. We recommend that the next surveys should consider these issues for improved policy-making and planning, and make a significant contribution to the gender dimensions of poverty. Data collection could focus on: (a) female resources: education, responsibility for child care, (b) female economic activity: time use, work actually done by women, whether paid or, more commonly, unpaid, and (c) female poverty: Finally there is need to enrich our knowledge and expand information on measuring poverty in terms of its multi-dimensional nature. There is very scarce reliable information on the social indicators of welfare for Nigeria. It is necessary to collect annual or periodic monitoring indicators for measuring changes in living and welfare conditions. This is fundamental in understanding the deprivations faced by the poor and in designing poverty alleviation programs. A critical analysis of coping strategies of the poor can help design safety net programs for those hardly hit. Also poverty alleviation is not feasible without a comprehensive employment policy. There is very little information about the functioning of labor markets, wage formation and labor legislation. Gender dimensions of poverty need to be understood more clearly to be able to design programs that can target the poor women and children. An integrated "food poverty" analysis together with "money-metric" poverty measures to address the nutritional and health consequences of the poor, is also a high priority.

In summary:

- a) Nigeria needs to establish a demand driven poverty monitoring system which will include a poverty monitoring unit, and a program of both quantitative and qualitative surveys;

- b) The FOS should continue to collect basic welfare indicators through an annual household survey. The current NISH can provide the basis, but a number of improvements can be made