The bureau’s annual budget have not been adequate for the implementation of its planned activities for the year 2012 (Photo Credit: GBoS) |
The Gambia Bureau of Statistics, GBoS,
has said on Monday that the Government [of The Gambia] appreciates the
importance of statistic in the national and sectoral planning.
However, it said the government should
further appreciate the fact that production of timely and reliable data is
costly and should endeavour to meet such costs.
GBoS Statistician General, Nkakassi
Sanyang, revealed to the National Assembly’s joint Public Enterprises and
Public Accounts committees (PEC/PAC) that “GBoS cannot meet all the statistical
needs of the country.”
‘Budget
not adequate’
He said the bureau’s annual budget have
not been adequate for the implementation of its planned activities for the year
2012.
“This resulted to some activities not
being implemented creating data gaps in the statistical system,” he added when
presenting GBoS’s annual activity report for 2012 to the committees for
scrutiny.
Sanyang suggested that sectoral planning
units that are newly established should identify sectoral data needs and
collaborate with GBoS in the production of such data.
“Capacity should also be built in the
planning units of sectors in the usage of data for monitoring interventions in
their sectors,” he said on January 27.
He recommended that more resources be
made available not just to GBoS but also to major statistical operations
undertaken by sectors such as agriculture, health and education.
He said as the economy is fast growing
and there is need to have a critical mass of statistical personnel across all
sectors “it is recommended that a statistical training centre be established to
cater for the growing number of statistical personnel needed.”
Requisite
resources lacking
GBoS’s Statistician General repeated
that training is a pre-requisite to develop the national statistical capacity.
He said in absence of a national statistical training centre, long term
training in statistics and related fields can only be pursued overseas.
“Llack of requisite resources for such
trainings is a major constrain in developing statistical capacity within GBoS
and National Statistical System (NSS),” Sanyang said, noting that the bureau
has only been sending its staff to India for one year diploma training under
India Government scholarships.
However, he said despite the challenges
in 2012, GBoS continued with its core mandate of routine data collection,
processing, analysis and disseminating. He said the bureau was involved in the
conduct of ad hoc socio-economic surveys conducted largely in collaboration
with sister agencies within and outside of government.
He noted that routine data collection
exercise relate to consumer prices indices, producer prices indices, government
finance statistics, national accounts, trade and transport statistics.
Different
year
The Gambia Public Procurement Authority
(GPPA), which is responsible for advising institutions on procurement issues, said
it found GBoS 64 per cent compliant.
Alieu Saho, Director of National
Accounts GPPA, said GBoS statement of receipt and payments for year ended 31
December, 2012 is D13, 550, 364.45 compared to D13, 419, 455.94 a year earlier.
Hon. Abdoulie Bojang, Speaker of the
National Assembly, GBoS appearance before the PEC\PAC committees for the past
years where shrouded in so many queries, but this year is different.
He encourages the management to keep up the
momentum in their drive to transforming GBoS into high standard institution.
GBoS’s reports on its activity and
financial dealings for 2012 were adopted by the National Assembly.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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