The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has said the application of data can help the country in improving revenue generation and policymaking.
The minister said this at a webinar hosted by Softcom in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics, on Thursday.
In her keynote address, she noted that the coronavirus pandemic had a toll on the health sector and the containment measures had a devastating effect on the economy.
According to her, the government made urgent decisions to boost the economy such as revising the 2020 budget downwards, removing fuel subsidy to conserve funds and offering tax rebate to MSMEs, among others.
She said, “Data helps us remove unnecessary emotion from the debate, facilitates decision making in the face of uncertainty, provides a basis for comparing the consequences of alternative policy choices and allows us to monitor and evaluate our performance relative to our planned targets.
“Apart from behavioural changes at the macro level, a data-driven approach also drives changes at the micro level, within our institutions.”
The Statistician General and Chief Executive Officer, NBS, Dr Yemi Kale, while addressing the theme ‘Leveraging Data to Drive Inclusive Policy, Revenue Generation and Improved Governance’ noted that data aids the decision-making process.
According to him, data enables organisations to establish numerical benchmarks, monitor and evaluate the progress of policies or programmes.
“Thus, ensuring that our policy interventions are well designed, meeting initial aims and identifying any areas which require improvement. Without data, we cannot make well-informed decisions that will catalyse our socio-economic development and transform the future of generations,” he said.
“Without data, we cannot make well-informed decisions that will catalyse our socio-economic development and transform the future of generations.”
Other panellists at the event discussed how informed data gathering processes could lead to economic growth and greater tax collection for the federal government and address persistent inequalities.
The panellists include Special Adviser to the President on Finance and Economy, Dr Sarah Alade; Country Director at the World Bank, Shubham Chaudhuri; Director General at the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze; President of the Nigerian Statistical Association, Prof. Sidney Onyeagu; and Chief Operating Officer at Softcom, Seindemi Olobayo.
