Reliable data key to effective planning, budgeting – minister

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, has said one of the key criteria for achieving effective national planning and budgeting is through provision of reliable data that cut across the national and sub-national strata of Nigeria.

Udoma, who stated this on Monday in Abuja at a validation workshop on Needs Assessment Study of Statistical and Planning Agencies in three states – Bayelsa, Edo and Delta, also stressed the need for effective information sharing between the states and the national level of government at all times.

“The current administration places a lot of emphasis on effective budgeting. The only way this can be achieved is when reliable data is provided and on time.

“As you are aware, statistical information is a strategic resource required for development planning. The extent to which this resource is harnessed and used for development purposes would depend on how well the National Statistical System (NSS) and indeed the institutional framework for data generation and strategic planning are organised and operationalised at the national and sub national level,” Udoma said.

The minister, who was represented by Fatima Mohammed, permanent secretary in the ministry, also said that the timeliness of the workshop coincided with the ongoing successor medium-term strategic plan of 20I7-2020, saying the new strategy would pave the way for rapid development.

“This workshop is coming at a time government is in the process of developing the successor medium-term strategic plan, 20I7-2020. There is a broadly shared view that the successor plan will pave way for effective transformation of Nigeria’s economy, including addressing the lingering challenges of statistical and planning agencies,” Udoma said.

The workshop, aimed at validating the revised draft reports of the Needs Assessment Survey of the Statistical and Planning Agencies in three SEEFOR beneficiary states, was also designed to offer stakeholders the opportunity to harvest ideas, insights and perspectives on how to initiate policies that will strengthen the national statistical, information and planning system in the country.