The Edo State government has engaged no fewer than 1,200 enumerators to capture socio-economic data to identify gaps and areas requiring government intervention.
The state governor, Godwin Obaseki, disclosed this on Monday during the launch of “Data To Make Edo Great Again (MEGA)” in Benin City.
Obaseki explained that the exercise would help to build a social register of the most vulnerable people, help business people achieve their business goals as well as understand gaps in infrastructure and how it can be addressed.
He added that the enumerators would visit every home across the local government areas in the state and use mobile data-capturing devices to collect information from people living in the community.
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The governor, who said no meaningful development can occur without useful information and data, noted that the data collected would be used to update the government’s database.
He said Nigeria lacks necessary data which can be used by federal, state and local governments to build long-term solutions to the myriads of problems confronting their states or communities.
“This project as you know is a collaboration with many agencies, including local government, Ministry of Planning, among others, so that we can capture data electronically into one system to plan for Edo State,” Obaseki said.
“You are all undertaking a very unique project. This hasn’t happened in this country as far as I know – when you train a first batch of 1,200 people to go from door-to-door across the communities in Edo State to obtain information of our people.
“We are committed to it because as you recall, in my inauguration speech I did say that one of the things we will leave, one of our legacies for Edo State, will be Edo in 2050, which is a detailed regional urban social plan of what Edo will be like in 30 years time.
“I want to thank the agencies such as the National Population Commission, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and others that have collaborated with us and supported us so far,” the governor said.
He appealed to all residents of the state to cooperate with government and the enumerators to be able to get necessary and vital information and data so as to achieve the purpose of the exercise.
Earlier, the project manager, Isa Aghariagbonse, assured that data generated from the exercise would be reliable, noting that the recruitment exercise of the officers was assembled through intensive capacity development training and conducted in partnership with agencies, stakeholders and LGAs in the state.
He listed those that would be involved in the data collection to include 1,200 enumerators, 30 data verification officers, 20 Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals, 10 Information Technology (IT) and database administrators, five communication officers and five administrative support staff.
