FAO to strengthen Nigerian MDAs’ capacity

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said it will build institutional capacity for improving data and information systems for policy planning.

Mr Alphonsus Onwuemeka, the FAO representative in Nigeria, said this during a workshop on data generation and analysis for government agencies Monday in Abuja.

Onwuemeka said it would also help track the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria.

He said this decision was part of FAO’s core mandate to help strengthen statistical systems in member countries.

Onwuemeka said the project aimed to strengthen the skills of ministries, departments and similar agencies and institutions in three selected states and the CTF in data generation and analysis.

According to him, it is about ensuring a coherent and systematic generation of data for better planning and better monitoring of the implementation of the SDGs.

He said the training came after two phases of the Training of Trainers Workshop (ToT)which ensured the emergence of competent master trainers to cascade this training to other stakeholders.

Onwuemeka said data and statistics play a major role in providing clear targets and digital evidence on the level of program achievement and the flow of data and information.

In his speech, Mr Zubairu Abdullahi, director of the Department of Planning and Policy Coordination, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the intervention was imperative.

Abdullahi said it was to improve Nigeria’s capacity to generate agricultural data for evidence-based policy formulation and project implementation.

He said the training of trainers and phase two of the exercise were successfully carried out as a follow-up to the ICT and statistical infrastructure needs assessments conducted previously.

Abdullahi said he was sure the training would improve their ability to search for credible data, process and analyze information for an evidence-based decision.

According to him, the aim is to acquire human and material resources to provide reliable, consistent and timely statistical data in a user-friendly form.

Abdullahi said it was to ensure effective planning, management and monitoring for the development of the agricultural sector of the economy. (NAN)