An economist, Dr Afolabi Olowookere, has stressed the need for policy makers to be equipped with the necessary data and information for socioeconomic performance in the current democratic dispensation.
Olowookere, the Managing Director/Chief Economist of the Analysts Data Services and Resources (ADSR), said this in a statement in Lagos.
He said policy makers needed to be supported to devise innovative means of addressing the country’s challenges and achieving its laudable vision with sustainable data and information.
“Following the elections earlier this year, several political office holders have emerged as the President, Governors and Members of Senate, the House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly. Many other appointments are equally being considered and made as cabinet members, advisers, and heads of agencies and departments, among others.
Uba Sani to Kaduna residents: Election over, I won’t fail you
Subsidy removal: Petrol price hits N700/litre as FG says no going back
“Our policymakers, therefore, need to be supported to devise innovative means of addressing the country’s challenges and achieving its laudable vision,” he said.
He said citizens, businesses and other key stakeholders also needed to be able to gauge how the activities of policymakers affect their interests and thereby offer their contribution towards strengthening the country’s policymaking process.
He said the current medium-term plan, the National Development Plan (2021-2025), had the vision of unlocking Nigeria’s potential in all sectors of the economy for sustainable, holistic and inclusive national development with sustainable data.
Olowookere said it was based on the need to tackle the challenges of inadequate application of data in planning that his book, “Nigeria in Figures: A Socio-Economic Databook,” would be launched on June 8, 2023, at Muson Centre, Lagos.
