Some of the functions of the Department as stipulated by the Commission’s Act include:

• advise the Federal Government on national incomes policy;
• keep the Federal Government informed continuingly of movement of all forms of income and propose guidelines relating to profits, dividends and all incomes other than wages;
• establish and run a data bank or other information center relating to data on wages and prices or any other variable and for that purpose to collaborate with data collection agencies to design and develop an adequate information system;
• keep prices under continuous surveillance, interpret price movements and relate them to other development in the national economy;
• encourage and promote schemes for raising productivity in all sectors of the economy;
• inform and educate the public on prices, wages and productivity, their relationship with one another and their inter-play in determining standards of living and real economic growth; and
• examine and advise on any matter referred to the Commission by the Federal and State Governments concerning any of the function conferred on it by or according to this Act;

The Department has two Divisions namely:

• Prices and Incomes; and
• Productivity

The survey was carried out in twelve (12) states of the Federation (i.e. 2 states from each of the region) and the Federal Capital Territory. The study focused on investigation of price changes of items under the classes and some sub-classes of Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP). Items were classified broadly into two namely: Food and Non-food items. Food items include Bread & Cereals, Fruits, Meat, and Milk amongst others while the Non-Food items include but not limited to Petrol, Kerosene, Diesel, Pharmaceuticals Products and Electricity. The field work took place between 13th to 19th September, 2011 in randomly selected rural and urban markets in the 12 State capitals.

The Department is presently handling three major on-going programs and activities. They are:

• Price Survey
• Productivity Measurement
• Incomes Survey of Informal Sector.