NIGERIA NEEDS DATA FOR ECONOMIC, HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT – FG 30-04-25
By Sadiq Aminu The minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of economy, Wale Edun has admitted Nigeria’s data inefficiencies, adding that government requires adequate data to plan for economic and human capital development.
Edun stated this in Abuja on Tuesday while receiving the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters/Climate Change in the Office of the Vice President Rukaiya el-Rufai and a delegation of the Hertie School, Germany.
*What the minister is saying*
According to Edun, “Economic decision making is critical in Nigeria and data is crucial. However, it becomes difficult to make decisions that will impact human capital development and the entire economy.
“For instance In revenue collection, we need to automate and digitize the whole process to have a complete data of who and who is paying what because without that we can’t plan economically,”
Citing instance with Lagos, the Finance Minister noted that “Lagos has witnessed transformation due to automation in their financing process because the data was there and that is what we want to reciprocate,” he added.
*Nigeria’s data deficit*
One of the major challenges facing Nigeria’s economic planning is the lack of adequate data.
For instance, a World Bank report indicates that only 2.5 million Nigerians benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme—representing a paltry 1.25 percent of Nigeria’s over 200 million.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rolf Alter at the Hertie School while presenting a proposal for strategic partnership to boost Nigeria’s Human Capital Development noted that the School is Germany’s leading private university of governance, executive education, and public sector innovation with 20 years of experience strengthening public sector leadership across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and beyond.
He said, “Our Proposal for Nigeria and Development Partners is aligned with Nigeria’s HCD 2.0 and the investment priorities of partners like ECOWAS, GIZ and the Gates Foundation. Specifically, Hertie School proposes a 36-months partnership for development initiatives.
“The policy is to strengthen national and subnational policy delivery systems for human capital and build institutional capacities for digital governance and data-driven decision-making.
Also speaking, Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters/Climate Change in the Office of the Vice President, Rukaiya El-Rufai noted that no country grows without human capacity development with the call for collaboration in states to drive growth
She said, “Nigeria requires purposeful investments especially at state levels.”