FG restates commitment to actualize SDG agenda
The Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale has restated the nation’s commitment in actualizing the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Kale, who explained the significant differences in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the SDGs, noted that the success of the SDGs is greatly enhanced by a system of monitoring and tracking that highlights critical areas requiring critical attention and additional resources.
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He stated this at a forum on the high-level dialogue on data bond and responsibility framework for the SDGs held in Owerri, the Imo state capital.
According to him, data and statistics are the life blood of the decision -making of any government and the raw material for accountability.
The statistician general said that without providing the right information on the right things at the right time, designing, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of government policies become almost impossible.
“This is why the National Bureau of Statistics as coordinator of the national statistical system in Nigeria took the initiative to ensure we learnt from the mistakes of the MDGs and that we put the necessary systems and processes in place for the effective tracking of the SDG indicators,” he added.
Represented by the Head of Department, Real Sector and Household Department, Yemi Adeniran, the statistician general further stated that the underlying concept of the data bond and responsibility framework is aimed at identifying the mandate and potential roles of the MDGs and commit them to supply those indicators under the SDGs, thereby creating an opportunity and environment for meaningful progress.
“Therefore this signing ceremony is significant to the SDG monitoring and reporting process as well as the statistical system in Nigeria,” he explained.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Adegoke Orielope – Adefulire in her remarks, acknowledged the daunting responsibilities and challenges inherent in the task of statistical production across the MDAs.
The presidential aide stressed that it is for this reason that the federal government is doing her best to install the enabling environment that would guarantee continuous production of the required statistics for tracking and for monitoring the implementation of the SDGs in the country.
This, she said has become inevitable as planning and policy formulation can only be effective when statistics is promoted as a tool for evidence-based policy making.
