(DDM) – Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has called for a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s data ecosystem, stressing that reliable statistics and analytics are the backbone of sustainable development.
Diaspora Digital Media (DDM) gathered that the Governor made this demand at the International Conference of the Chartered Institute of Statisticians of Nigeria (CISN), held in Asaba, Delta State.
He was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Kingsley Emu, who delivered his keynote remarks to a hall packed with statisticians, policymakers, and academics.
Oborevwori said Nigeria cannot continue to make policies based on “guesswork and assumptions,” warning that without solid data, the nation risks deepening poverty and widening inequality.
The Governor revealed that Delta had already taken the lead by funding major surveys, including poverty mapping, labor force analysis, and GDP studies, which directly impacted over 300,000 households.
He said these initiatives enabled his administration to design targeted welfare and economic programs that were measurable and transparent.
He urged Nigerian statisticians to adopt big data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, stressing that such tools will help forecast risks, predict population trends, and guide government interventions with scientific precision.
Minister of State for Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa, who spoke at the conference, described data analytics as a “game-changer”, noting that countries such as China, India, and Singapore had built their rapid economic rise on data-driven planning.
The Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Adeyemi Adeniran, lamented that Nigeria still struggles with fragmented data systems, poor inter-agency collaboration, and outdated collection methods.
He warned that relying on inconsistent numbers makes it impossible for Nigeria to track progress on key global indices, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Experts at the gathering cited several failures linked to weak data culture in Nigeria.
They recalled how inaccurate census figures had triggered ethnic and political disputes, while lack of credible unemployment data made it difficult to design effective job-creation programs.
International observers at the conference said Nigeria needs to invest massively in technology, digital infrastructure, and training to match global best practices.
They highlighted how countries like Rwanda had transformed governance by building digital ID systems and real-time data dashboards to monitor development.
Oborevwori concluded by charging statisticians to “rescue the nation with reliable numbers,” saying no government can deliver development without trustworthy data.
He emphasized that Nigeria’s future would be decided not by politics, but by the accuracy of the statistics guiding economic policy.
Delegates resolved that a national data revolution was urgent, warning that failure to act would leave Nigeria far behind in a rapidly digitized global economy.