The Federal Government has inaugurated a Finance Sectoral Consultative Committee for the effective coordination of statistical data in the ministry of finance and its agencies.
Dr. Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, Permanent Secretary in Ministry of finance, inaugurated the committee at the headquarters of the finance ministry in Abuja.
The membership of the committee is drawn from departments/unit of finance ministry , the representatives of the National Bureau of Statistics and Central Bank of Nigeria.
Others are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Debt Management Office, the Nigeria Export-Import Bank, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.
He said the committee is given the task of coordinating stakeholders responsible for production of finance statistics.
Dutse who was represented by Mrs. Olubunmi Osinyanbola, Director of Home finance in the ministry, said the inauguration was in line with the recommendations of the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics recently launched by the National Bureau of Statistics.
He said, “The committee is being established to improve and harmonize the statistical programmes of the ministry and our agencies periodically, strengthen capacity to manage and disseminate government finance statistics and promote the use of best practice and international standard in statistical production and management.”
Also speaking, Dr Yemi Kale, Statistician-General, National Bureau of Statistics, urged the Federal Ministries, Department and Agencies to cooperate with the committee to ensure efficiency in data collection.
He said, “These data will assist the government in economic analysis and planning. It will also assist the government in the economic restructuring of the nation.”
Similarly, the Head of Economic Cooperation and Energy of the European Union, Mrs. Nadia Cannata, pledged the union’s continued support to the committee’s work.
She said that the EU had provided N20m to Nigeria to provide technical support and build the capacity of major stakeholders to ensure improvement of statistics collection.