FG Targets 2m Grassroots Jobs with Data Documentation System

Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, minister/deputy chairman, National Planning Commission, has disclosed that the Basic Registry and Information System in Nigeria (BRISIN), will create 2 million jobs for Nigerians at the grassroots level when fully implemented.

He explained in a statement on the Ministry of Information website, that with the project taking its full course, documentation centres will be established in all wards nationwide, thereby creating employment opportunities as more hands will be engaged and this will also reduce corruption and criminality because access to information at grass roots level has now becomes very easy.

BRISIN is an integrated system for the collection, storage and distribution of information to support the management of the economy.

“Based on the experience of developed countries, BRISIN Nigeria will be able to create employment at the grassroots level by the establishment of documentation centres in all wards which can lead to the employment of about 2 million Nigerians. BRISIN will reduce corruption, criminality and make access to information at grass roots level very easy”, he said.

The Minister spoke over the week end in Abuja during the formal inauguration the National Implementation Committee of the Basic Registry and Information System (BRISN) in Nigeria.

Sulaiman explained that the BRISIN system will assist in providing platform for accurate records keeping relating to census such as daily birth and death rates, daily marriages and divorce records, immigrants and emigrants, residence and transfer.

The Minister listed other benefits derivable from the system to include: the GDP computation, revenue collection and other economic aggregates and vital information such as the whereabouts of activities, adding that the socio-economic and political status of citizens will also be effectively monitored for the overall security of the nation.

Accordingly, he acknowledged that “No nation can successfully fight high level of endemic corruption, criminality, tax evasion and other socio- economic vices without a system that seamlessly captures data and information on individuals and enterprises within the country. With a system like the proposed BRISIN, vital information on every citizen and resident in the country could be obtained with a press of a button. All the developed countries of the world use this type of data capture for socio- economic development.”

Sulaiman then charged the Committee to develop implementation methodologies and procedures for the BRISIN project, create an awareness campaign system; develop Diaspora inclusion and image making system and also define legal framework, economic and fiscal monitoring and control mechanism.

Members of the Committee are drawn from the National Planning Commission, National Bureau of Statistics, Federal Capital Territory, National Population Commission, Federal Ministries of Interior Finance, Information, and Ministry of Communication Technology among others.

Mattew Nwankwo, representative of the Chairman of the BRISIN Project described the System as key to a new vision of change that Nigerian citizens at home and Diaspora have been waiting for to move towards balanced economy, transparency and good governance, insisting that BRISIN is the biggest government business, which will manage the economy and at the same time generate revenue.

He also explained that, BRISIN is at the heart of the economy and a vital instrument of measurement for development and therefore called on the incoming government to give funding priority for its implementation.