By Naomi Omorowa
In his drive towards Making Edo Great Again (MEGA), Governor Godwin Obaseki, has initiated a series of reforms that have birthed institutions that are critical to the State’s development.
The Commissioner for Finance, Budget, Economic Planning and Development, Joseph Eboigbe, said this during an event titled “Dissemination of Findings of the Needs Assessment Conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to set up the Edo State Bureau of Statistics (ESBS) to stakeholders.”
The Commissioner who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Bernard Aigbe, said the event was borne out of the need for Edo to actualize the implementation of the National Bureau of Statistics law as a sub-national to complement what NBS is doing on behalf of Nigerians, adding that the event was held to share the findings of the need assessment exercise carried out by the NBS, geared towards establishing the Edo State Bureau of Statistics.
He commended the National Bureau of Statistics for living up to its role of collection, collation, analysis of data and disseminating same to the general public, hence the resolve of the Edo State Governor to request for help to carry out the need assessment in order to ascertain the required infrastructure and organizational designs.
The Commissioner noted that these statistical data must be collected, compiled and disseminated in a timely manner to policy makers, planners and researchers, hence the need to establish the Edo State Bureau of Statistics.
He commended the Edo State Governor for the political will to establish the Edo State Bureau of Statistics.
In her presentation, an official of the National Bureau of Statistics, Mrs. Anne Ibrahim, poured encomiums on Edo State Government for its investment in ICT infrastructure and other reforms, and stressed that these reforms will make it easy for the Edo State Bureau of Statistics to take off smoothly.
Some of the recommendations made include the need to organize specialized capacity building programs for officers to enable them perform optimally, a well equipped office building, modern equipment, regular surveys, data dissemination platform and website handles amongst others.
The question and answer session afforded attendees and other stakeholders the opportunity to contribute to the conversation.
The closing remark was given by the Director of Statistics, Mr. David Obanubi, who expressed appreciation to the participants for gracing the occasion.
