END-LINE NATIONAL USER SATISFACTION WORKSHOP ON STATISTICS Abuja, FCT, 25-26 September 2013 Goodwill message – Alain Gaugris, World Bank Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, All protocol observed. I am representing the Country Director, Ms Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, who could not be with us today due to prior commitment. But she asked me to convey the strong commitment of the World Bank to statistical development in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the Vision 20:2020 –a rallying call to make Nigeria one of the twenty strongest economies in the World by 2020- is supported by the Transformation Agenda 2011-2015 that sets priority policies and programmes. When implemented, this Agenda would transform the Nigerian Economy to higher level of development and welfare for the Nigerian people. In Nigeria, like in any other country, where development strategies are invariably designed to reduce poverty and improve welfare of people, the importance of having strong statistical systems to enhance countries’ ability to control and monitor its own development agenda cannot be over-emphasized. No meaningful design, development, monitoring or evaluation of national strategies can take place without quality statistics to identify socio-economic problems, guide formulation and implementation of development policies. In other words, in order to foster development and measure achievements, we must establish baseline data and the data at the end-target period. This is M&E concept that you all are familiar with. This is true at federal level; it is equally true at state level. When we met in Lafia in July 2011 for the baseline user satisfaction survey workshop, we considered the event as the corner stone of the NSDS implementation, since it was the first activity under the SRF Project, with theobjective to initiate in Nigeria the implementation of the NSDS. I will try to be brief. Not because I think there is not much progress made in the Nigerian statistical system, but rather because most of the time during these 2 coming days should be dedicated to user-producer dialogue. Two years later, it seems to me that many stones have been added to the statistical edificeof Nigeria. The SRF Project was meant to improve the legal and institutional framework of the Nigerian statistical system, both at national and sub-national level, in order to improve vertical and horizontal coordination. It was also meant to develop the Human resources, the statistical framework and the IT infrastructure in the NSS, so as to professionalize the statistical production in Nigeria. Finally, it aimed at strengthening statistical communication and M&E in the country. In these three areas, as NBS will show you later today and tomorrow, the Project delivered. But we will only be able to conclude that the SRF Project was fully successful in its deliverables if you, users of the statistical information, noticed an improvement. This is why your perception is key to us. Not only as a snapshot, but also, and perhaps most importantly, over time. This is the reason why the exact same questionnaire as two years ago for the baseline and one year ago for the interim (funded by UNDP) will be administered to all of you, so as to allow comparison of your satisfaction with statistical information over time. Without entering into the details and unveilthe main findings from the baseline and interim user satisfaction surveys that will be presented to you by NBS later today, I understand that the trend is overall positive. The objective of the workshop is thus to continue the constructive dialogue between users and producers of statistics initiated two years ago, with an ultimate view to better meet the demand for official statistics. This is why we, producers and users of official statistics, are here again today. What do we expect from participants during the workshop? We want you to share your frank and constructive views on the current system, from your perspective as users of statistics. When one talks about a National statistical system, this includes not only producers of statistics, but also, and perhaps most importantly, users. The system is at its apex when producers’ supply meets users’ needs. Indeed, statistics which are not used do not really exist. In this logic, the first step for the producers of official statistics in Nigeria to meet the users’ demand is to engage proactively into a dialogue with the users community, where perceived strengths and weaknesses can be noted and appreciated. Without this dialogue, there is very little that can be done to improve the system. At the end of the workshop, we expect to get a clear and holistic idea of the current level of use of official statistics by the different groups of users in Nigeria. We also hope to understand better the users’ perception of the current supply of statistics, in all its quality dimensions of relevance, accuracy, timeliness, dissemination practices, accessibility, interpretability, and coherence. Then will we be able to compare with past use and perception and conclude whether there was improvement or not. Either way, the World Bank and other Development Partners remain committed to supporting statistical development in Nigeria, and are currently working with the Nigerian Government on a next Project which should hopefully kick start sometime next year. In this context, your candid feedback will also be extremely useful. If we work together, we can always improve the system. On behalf of the World Bank and the many other Development Partners involved in statistical development in Nigeria, I wish you a successful workshop.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:03:41 +0000
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