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The Federal Government established the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) in 1960 and domiciled it in the University of Ibadan, Ibadan. This followed the dissolution of the West African Institute of Social and Economic Research (WAISER), which the colonial government established in 1950 to serve as a Think Tank in the field of social and economic development for the then British West Africa territory. In 1977, the Federal Government detached the Institute from the University of Ibadan and made it autonomous via NISER Act No. 70 of 1977 (now Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2006 CAP 115). In 1987, NISER moved out of the University of Ibadan to its headquarters at Ojoo, Ibadan and was placed under the Presidency. In 2006, the Federal Government merged the National Manpower Board (NMB) with NISER and placed the Institute under the National Planning Commission (NPC).

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