The Ondo State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Emmanuel Igbasan  has urged Ministries, Departments  and Agencies (MDAs) to collaborate with the Bureau of Statistics on effective management of data.
Igbasan made the call  on Tuesday in Akure at  the opening ceremony of a five-day workshop for statisticians.
The workshop with the theme,” Measuring Poverty at the Sub-National level,’’ was  organised by UNICEF in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics.
The commissioner, who  urged  the participants to make good use of the opportunity, said:  “In addition to building the capacity of officers, the workshop will also undertake the generation of poverty indices from existing statistical survey data.
“I therefore, enjoin all participants to give this training the seriousness it deserves  so that the objectives of the workshop can be realised.’’
Igbasan, who is also the Chairman of the  Board of Directors, Ondo State Bureau of Statistics,  stressed that the poverty statistics generated during the training workshop would  be used to provide inputs at the upcoming Development Partners Conference.
“The government is planning a development partners conference for the first quarter of the year;  we, therefore,  expect that poverty statistics that would be generated during this training workshop will provide input into the conference,” he said.
In his address, the Statistician General of Ondo State, Mr Dayo Aregbesola,  thanked UNICEF for collaborating with the Bureau of Statistics for capacity building in data management.
UNICEF official in charge of Social Policy  in Nigeria, Dr Enrique Delamonica,  lauded the state for agreeing to work with the world body.
Delamonica also commended  the participants for availing themselves with the opportunity provided.
Other dignitaries at the forum were the  Statistician General of Ekiti, Mr Oguntimehin Michael Olajide,  and a Director in the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Mrs Elizabeth Egharevba.