Dr Kayode Fayemi’s government in Ekiti State has produced the first state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Index, to measure the level of the economy of the State.
The Commissioner for Budget, and Economy Planning, Hon. Femi Ajayi, gave this information during the flag-off of the Administrative Statistic Data Validation workshop in Ado-Ekiti.
Hon. Ajayi commended Governor Kayode Fayemi for giving the needed support to raise the standard of statistical system of the state by producing the state’s Gross Domestic Product and other administrative based statistics to track development in the state.
He stated that Ekiti government has demonstrated its resolve to ensure that all planning efforts of this administration are evidence based, with a view to achieving smooth governance through actionable data collection and analysis.
The commissioner also highlighted some developmental documents produced in the recent times by the Bureau of Statistics to include State Atlas of social indicators for children and women, data sets on gender- based statistics, medical and health statistics, public finance statistics, among others.
He said the Agency has also produced the security, justice and social welfare statistics among numerous others, adding that the Bureau had been giving supports to many Agencies and Non-governmental organizations on data production methodologies, and generation of indicators for strategic planning.
Ajayi noted that the governor will develop the knowledge economy of the state in order to channel the available meagre resources to the areas of need of the people.
The Commissioner of Budget called on institutions, government agencies, MDAs as well as individuals to continue to collaborate with the Bureau in the area of data revolution strides.
He charged all critical stake holders in the workshop and those that will be invited in the subsequent series of data validation workshops to work assiduously on the draft report presented for authentication with a view to producing reliable, accurate, and timely statistical data for effective planning.
In his own address, the Ekiti State Statistician General, Mr. Jide Oguntimehin, stated that the objectives of the Ekiti Bureau of Statistics among other things, is to generate reliable data and indices for effective planning and sustainable development, raise public awareness about the importance and roles of statistical information to the society and promote the use of best practices as well as international standards in statistical production, management and dissemination.
Oguntimehin highlighted the major statistical developmental works handled by the Agency within the year, to include computation of the Ekiti state Gross Domestic Product from 2013-2017, population projections for 2006 to 2020 and production of public finance statistics from 2017 to 2018, with Ekiti State Security Statistics, among others.
He stated that work has reached an advance stage in the production of Sustainable Development Goals Indicator Report, Digest on Education, Agriculture, Transport and Local Government statistics as well as fact and figures about Ekiti state.
In their goodwill messages, the representatives of National Population Commission Abuja, Kunle Olungbenyokun, National Bureau of Statistics, Abuja, Olusola Ogundana, the Nigerian Police, Gabriel Igbasanmi, Executive secretary, Ekiti State Health Insurance Scheme, Dr. Joshua Ileke, commended Ekiti State Government’s efforts at repositioning State Statistical System.
They also commended the State Bureau of Statistics for the giant strides at generating robust data in various areas of human endeavours for the state. They all promised to make their meaningful contributions at validating the data presented with a view to having accurate, reliable, and up-to-date data for the development of Ekiti state and Nigeria as a whole.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
