A foremost statistician, Mr Umaru Baba, has blamed poor statistical data in the country for the difficult the government is having tracking progress the nation has made so far on developmental issues.
Baba who spoke on Monday in Abuja, said statistics was very important but like most other developing countries in the world, was the most relegated phenomenon.
He said that unfortunately, no country could move forward without statistics, because it was the bedrock of every strategic plan that should be given its necessary place of pride in the Nigerian economic agenda.
“As it is today, we are just recovering from a recession and we need statistics to understand what happened, where we are today and of course how we are doing in terms of recovery and if what we are expecting to attain is feasible.
“A lot of things are going on and a lot of progress is being made but unfortunately they can not be tracked because of the poor statistical culture in Nigeria.” He said.
According to him, the nation needs statistics to be able to understand how far it is doing in terms of government programmes and activities.
This, the statistician said was so it could plan better for the country and the economy, particularly on issues of employment and security.
On the issue of insecurity, he said it was an unfortunate situation that both the government and the citizens must come together to resolve. He said that insecurity was a phase the entire world was passing through at the same time, adding that the Nigerian government was trying in resolving the problem.
“We need to have data to show what we have done, the improvement in place so that the international community will not just rely on fake news that everywhere is not safe or peaceful in Nigeria.”