The Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, says the Federal Government is committed to implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) through use of official statistics.
Adeniran, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said this at a Road Walk to Mark the 2023 African Statistics Day in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said the Federal Government had set up an implementation committee to achieve this.
“We are marking the African Statistics Day which is set aside to create awareness about the role that statistics can play in the economy and good governance in every country in Africa.
” The theme for this year chosen across countries in Africa is to use data ecosystem to support the government in the implementation of AfCTA, which Nigeria is a signatory to that agreement.
“The Federal Government has set up an implementation committee which is in touch with the NBS to see how we can collaborate and work together.
“This is to ensure we put in place data that can be used to measure the performance of government in the implementation of that agreement.”
Adeniran said the purpose of the road walk was to create awareness of the importance of statistics in nation-building, economic development and sustainable coexistence.
He said the walk was also to seek the cooperation of Nigerians in data gathering at the household level and company and establishment level.
“We need to create awareness that there is a need for us to use statistics for planning, and there is a need for the government to make use of data to formulate policy.
“Also to drive home the fact that there is a need for us to get the cooperation from all Nigerians when our staff are on the field to collect data, be it at the household level or the company or establishment level,” he said.
The statistician-general said the celebration of the day had to be shifted to Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 because the day of the celebration which was Nov. 18, fell on a weekend.
According to him, we need to ensure everyone in the statistical system participates in the celebration starting with this road walk and tomorrow we will conclude with a public lecture.
Mr Wakili Noma, the Director, Corporate Planning and Statistical Coordination, said Nigeria needed accurate data to plan adequately.
Speaking on the use of big data in Nigeria, he said Nigeria was rated high in the use of big data.
“The African Union has an institute in Kigali which is training people on big data.
“Most of our staff from NBS have gone there, and most of us were already conversant with what they are doing because we have already gone far with big data use in NBS.
“So big data for us is not a problem. When you meet and mingle with other people of the world that is when you know if you are ahead of them or at par with them.
“We in NBS Nigeria have been rated high compared to that of South Africa, Egypt and others. “(NAN)
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the African Statistics Day is an annual event celebrated on Nov. 18 to raise public awareness of the importance of statistics in all aspects of social and economic life.
The theme of the 2023 African Statistics Day is “Modernising Data Ecosystems to Accelerate the Implementation of the AfCFTA: The Role of Official Statistics and Big Data in the Economic Transformation and Sustainable Development of Africa”.(NAN)
