Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have resolved to collaborate to make the data collated from the commission available to more Nigerians.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the management of the electoral body on Tuesday in Abuja, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said NBS has the mandate to produce data on socio-economic and other areas in the country for the citizens so that government could use the data to plan, make policies, and evaluate policies that are in place.

According to him, “It’s not only data produced from government; our data is also used by private organisations, companies. Our data is being used by even other ministries and departments and agencies of government to plan their own programmes and activities at their respective MDAs.

“So for us to be able to report adequately on all SDG indicators and goals, we need all kinds of administrative data that is produced by public institutions and government agencies.”

Adeniran said it was against this background that NBS met with the INEC management to see how they can collaborate and ensure that they have data produced by INEC on NBS database and make it available for public use.

He stated: “As you all know, the core mandate of the National Bureau of Statistics is to warehouse all official data for the country so that we can make those data available to the public, available to government to do their work, to make programmes, to formulate policies.

“We have been having these collaborations with different agencies. We do a similar thing with the Ministry of Agriculture when we produced the census of Madrid.

“We have similar collaborations and discussions with federal ministries and humanitarian affairs. We have this meeting with the Ministry of Education, and we are developing a system that will allow us to link up with these agencies that are producing official data for countries.

“So that we don’t have to bring flash disk copy data. The kinds of data we are talking about are big data. So there should be a system by which you can link up with your system here and then get the data seamlessly.

“We call it Integrated System of Administrative Services (ISAS) and presently, we have 15 MDAs that are on that platform. That we can get data from them anytime. As the data is changing, we are also receiving them on a daily basis.

‘‘So it’s the same process; it’s the same kind of system that we are going to be working together with INEC to get data from them seamlessly.  Not only that, any data that INEC also requires for their planning, for their process, they will also be able to get it easily from MDAs as well.

“We are also going to benefit by having a lot of data that they produce from time to time as we speed their green registration. We are also going to benefit by having a lot of data that they produce from time to time as we speed their CVR registration.

“Now, this data is being put together almost every week. So NBS will have the opportunity to get the latest data from INEC and make it in a format that people will be able to relate to it.”

Earlier, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission has the largest database of adult citizens for the specific purpose of elections and electoral activities in Nigeria protected by law, including compliance with the provisions of the National Data Protection Act. 

He added: “We are always willing to partner with national agencies within the confines of the law while maintaining our independence. We regard our partnership with NBS in this context.

“Over the years, stakeholders, especially the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and groups representing the community of persons with disability, have appealed to the commission to improve these facilities by providing electricity and water for ad hoc staff, as well as access facilities such as ramps for citizens with special needs during elections and electoral activities such as voter registration. 

“We urge the NBS to add these concerns to the statistics on the state of public facilities that you periodically publish and in your engagement with constitutional bodies such as the National Economic Council (NEC) in which all state governors in Nigeria are members. 

“Let these facilities which train our youths at the foundation and intermediate levels of the education system be beneficiaries of the widely proclaimed dividends of democracy.”

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