The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has said that the federal government has prioritised collection of data on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to track progress on the fight against poverty. Speaking during a dialogue on Data Bond and Supply Responsibility Framework for SDGs held in Abuja, the minister said the Humanitarian Ministry would track data to ensure that Nigeria is on course in achieving President Muhammadu Buhari’s target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
She said SDGs data would show progress as the government meets the target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. She told participants that without reliable data, no progress could be made in planning and economic development. The Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, said the SDGs placed emphasis on data for monitoring and evaluation to track progress. Kale, who is also the director general of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the signing of the Data Bond and Supply Responsibility Framework showed Nigeria’s readiness to develop reliable, timely and accessible data for monitoring progress on SDGs implementation in the country.
Represented by the bureau’s Director of Household Statistics, Yemi Adeniran, he quoted the NBS boss as saying that Nigeria is serious with meeting the targets of the 2030 development agenda, adding that emphasis on data showed that progress would be adequately tracked. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said her office collaborated with the NBS to develop data to track and measure progress in the implementation of the SDGs in the country. Orelope-Adefulire said the implementation of SDGs in Nigeria requires sustained statistical development by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
She said planning and policy formulation in the implementation of the SDGs could only be possible through reliable data. The Chairman of the Governing Board of the NBS, Dr Kabiru Nakaura, said data is important for planning in the execution of SDGs policies in the country. He said since data is the lifeblood of every economy, outdated data cannot be used to evaluate the success or otherwise of the implementation of SDGs in Nigeria.
