Anambra Bureau of Statistics presents Performance Report to Anambra Assembly
By Frances Nwabufoe
The Statistician General and Managing Director, Anambra State Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Obiora Obiabunmo has reiterated his commitment to ensuring that data collection is digitized in Anambra State, noting that he has focused on changing the existing manual collection since assumption of duty as that has affected the timeliness and consistency of data.
The Statistician General said this before the House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation at House of Assembly complex, Awka during the Assembly’s oversight meeting on the 2022/2023 Quarterly Performance Appraisal with the Anambra State Bureau of Statistics.
Mr. Obiabunmo noted that the Bureau is currently working with the Anambra State Information and Communication Technology Agency and Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to develop a digital platform that would allow for digital collection of data from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.
He added that such platform would enable the MDAs to log in from their offices and upload their data while the Bureau validate and analyse them from its end and publish for general use.
“While we are waiting for the automated buildup, we have started the data collection from MDAs to update from 2019 to date and upgrade the database of the state. Even though these data are existing in MDAs, they are not consolidated and validated by the Bureau to ensure their authenticity and useability.
"We have also requested to update the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the State. This will help investors and general public understand the economic activities going on in the state. An investor will have a clear picture of areas to invest in. The state government will also know the areas that are lagging behind in terms of development.”
The Statistician General added that the Bureau started last year to sensitize Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS) staff on the importance of data and the proper ways to actualize timely data, noting that the essence was to ensure that every activity of MDAs is documented and forwarded to the Bureau for dissemination.
He said that proper data generation would attract investment to the state, noting that it was one of the reasons why the Bureau engaged the Managing Director of Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, Mr. Mark Okoye, the Managing Director of Strategy Evaluation and Execution, Mr. Emma Onyilofor and Commissioner for Economic Planning, Ms. Chiamaka Nnake as guest speakers.
“We plan to engage in such meeting every quarter of the year to keep abreast with the PRS as quality data provision starts with them. We have also proposed to train statisticians at state level and PRS department staff in the local government as there is a huge disconnect between what the state is doing and what the local government is doing.
"We are looking at how to bring them up to speed for them to understand what is happening at the state level and the importance of PRS department as such will ensure that any exercise commissioned by the governor will be executed by well-trained statisticians.
Speaking on the Bureau’s external relations, Mr. Obiabunmo explained that the Bureau has reached out to development partners to fund some of the activities of the Bureau as well as work with some states who already benefit from these partners to see how more partners can be attracted to the state.
He added that the Bureau has liaised with the National Population Commission to obtain the digital maps of the Anambra state used in mapping houses for the 2023 population census as it would help the Bureau with state surveys for better enumeration of geographical areas in the state.
Earlier, the Chairman, Committee on Finance and Appropriation and member representing Anambra East constituency, Mr. Obinna Emeneka explained that the essence of the meeting was to appraise the performance of the Bureau so far since its 2023 budget defense and the budget’s subsequent approval by the House.
“This is an appraisal of your quarterly performance. We want to know your activities as contained in your budget and what you have been able to do since the passage of the 2023 budget. It is a progress report on what has been done so far.”
The House Committee at the end of the presentation by the Statistician General,enjoined the Bureau to maintain its current pace and ensure its actualization of high percentage of the budget it presented to the House before their next appraisal.
The presentation was attended by key officials of the Bureau and involved report on cash flow from March 2022 to date, list of capital projects executed or ongoing, amount released and outstanding, level of work already done, payment vouchers, evidence of conformity with Procurement Law of Anambra State and due process, others. (MOI).
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