Fellow
Gambians;
Today
is African Statistics Day; it is celebrated every year on the 18th of
November. This event was initiated in
1990 by the Joint African Conference of Planners, Statisticians and
Demographers, a Subsidiary Body of the United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa. The day is celebrated each year
in order to increase awareness about the important role statistics play in all
aspects of social and economic development in Africa.
Fellow
Gambians, over the years the celebrations have focused on issues related to the
importance of statistics in development planning and policy formulation. Numerous contemporary topics including
gender, environment, open data have been covered and discussed throughout the
continent. For 2016, the selected theme
is “Strengthening Economic Statistics for Regional Integration, Structural
Transformation, and Sustainable Development”.
The
year 2015 marked the end of the Millennium Development Goals and beginning of
the implementation of new Sustainable Development Goals. The goals are at the core of discussions in
international communities and hence placing economic statistics at the centre
of sustainable development. Thus, the production of better economic statistics
will play a crucial role in monitoring the implementation of these goals and
other national and international development goals as well.
Fellow
Gambians the responsibilities of the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS)
includes production of Economic statistics that is used by the Government,
Development Partners and other key stakeholders to formulate policies and
prepare strategic plans to ensure sustainable development. However, this noble task cannot be done by
the Bureau in isolation, that is why collaboration with different stakeholders
both local and international is important.
Nevertheless, for produced statistics to meet the required intention of
making lives better, overall management of production, analysis and
dissemination must be coordinated. A
strengthened and well-coordinated National Statistical System, equipped with
modern technologies, will help to improve data collection, processing, analysis
and dissemination. In turn, policymakers
will be able to develop informed policies which will lead to an improvement in
peoples’ welfare and better lives.
Every
one of us is aware that it is the responsibility of the GBoS to disseminate
official statistics at all levels of the Government as these data are used for
the formulation of different development plans and strategies. In fulfilling this responsibility GBoS works
closely with both local and international stakeholders, knowing that better
strategies are formed upon availability of reliable and timely data. I
therefore urge all Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies; the private
sector; development partners; and the general public to use statistics in
planning, monitoring and evaluation of different social and economic
development policies in their respective areas and fields.
To
the statisticians, the celebration also serves as a reminder of your
responsibilities and duty to the development of our country and the African
continent in general. You are also take
note of the power of statistics in every aspect of life and thus the need for a
strong National Statistical System (NSS) that will ensure production of quality
data for sustainable development. To the policy makers, planners, the media,
and all stakeholders, sustainable economic development is impossible without
strengthened economic statistics, thus the need for improved collaboration.
On
a final note, I want to thank GBoS staff and all those involved in our National
Statistical System for their efforts in the production and dissemination of
statistics for national development, and to wish you successful celebrations.
Thank
you for your kind attention.
