From Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
The federal and states governments have been advised to embark on an immediate review of the national and states statistics master plans to strengthen and modernise Nigeria’s statistical system.
The call was made by Professor Peter Osanaiye, a professor of statistics at the Department of Statistics, University of Ilorin while delivering the 205th inaugural lecture of the university at the weekend.
Osanaiye, said every country need timely and reliable statistics to describe its social demographic, economic and environmental conditions which create knowledge for the planning of national development.
He urged policymakers and officers involved in monitoring and evaluation and other officers who use statistics in their day-to-day work should be made to be statically literate to enable its efficient use.
The professor of statistics charged the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to establish a new partnership by building links with different actors within the private sector, non-profit organisations and academia.
He also admonished the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (NSDS) that in order to facilitate access to new data sources that require new forms with NSDS partner and donor resources in various centres of knowledge to enable capacity and resources must adopt a public Private partnership PPP.