From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
As part of measures to determine the accurate number of Fulani herdsmen in Kano, the state government has conducted the 2021 headcount of the herdsmen across the 44 local governments.
In his address at the meeting of the National Consultative Committee on Statistics (NCCS) in Kano State, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje said that the report of the exercise resulted in multiple policies and programmes formulations in the state.
In the same vein, he said all Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies (MDAs), as well as the local governments, will be strengthened and empowered to enable them to collect statistics peculiar to their operations.
‘As a matter of policy, we are determined to ensure the production of accurate, timely and reliable statistical information that would serve as a guide for good governance. There must be a paradigm shift in the way and manner government business is conducted if we must achieve meaningful development. Equally, I wish to use this opportunity to solicit the cooperation and assistance of Federal Government institutions in data and information sharing,’ he stated.
Governor Ganduje noted that Kano State Government was determined to entrench a system that would eliminate the attitudes of falsifying information for self-interest as well as doing things without recourse to facts and figures.
‘You are all witnesses to the fact that these types of attitudes have, no doubt, retarded our development in the past by making it difficult to determine where to provide essential services and in what quantity. To enable us to achieve some developments, therefore, the government will provide the bureau with all the support required to enable it to discharge its responsibilities of providing the state government with reliable socio-economic statistics for policy formulation, execution, monitoring and evaluation. I, therefore, enjoin all participants to give this meeting the serious attention it deserves” he pleaded.
In his remarks, the Statistician-General of the Federation (SG), Dr Simon Harry, disclosed that the bureau has designed a four-year Corporate Strategy, 2022 2025 with a view to ensuring a sustained development of statistics in Nigeria and to improve the quantum and quality of statistics in Nigeria.
‘The essence of the strategy is to define a clear roadmap with a view to improving the quantum and quality of statistics in Nigeria. Perhaps, it is pertinent to mention that contained in the strategy are seven key priority areas including organisational and institutional development; infrastructural development; human resource management and development; statistical advocacy; data production; information technology and data dissemination. At this juncture, it is important to explain that the design of the four-year strategy was a deliberate arrangement put in place for improved delivery of statistics to rhyme with the National Development Plan (2021 – 2025).
‘In a similar manner, I urge the State Bureaus of Statistics to ensure that relevant frameworks are put in place to guide the process of statistical production at the sub-national level. This has become necessary if the statistical system in Nigeria must provide the statistics needed for the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of National Development Plan/Sustainable Development Plans (NDP/SDPs), tracking and monitoring the progress being made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as Africa Agenda 2063. These are key national and global programmes that require comprehensive, timely and reliable statistical information to achieve the desired results,’ he noted.