Nigeria Can’t Achieve $1trn Economy With Outdated Data — Abbas

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ABUJA – Speaker of the House of Repre­sentatives, Tajudeen Abbas, on Monday, declared that Nigeria cannot realise its ambition of building a $1 trillion economy without a modern, credible and technology-driven statistical system capable of producing accurate and reliable data for policymaking and economic planning.

Abbas made the assertion at a public hearing on the Statis­tics Bill, 2025, organised by the House Committee on National Planning and Economic Devel­opment at the National Assem­bly in Abuja.

The proposed legislation seeks to repeal the Statistics Act of 2007 and establish a new legal framework for Nigeria’s statis­tical system, with provisions aimed at strengthening the Na­tional Bureau of Statistics (NBS), enhancing coordination among data-producing agencies, improv­ing data quality assurance, pro­moting digital data collection and ensuring sustainable funding for official statistics.

Represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, the speaker said the country’s economic aspirations would re­main difficult to attain without dependable data to guide public policy, budgetary decisions and investment planning.

“To plan without accurate data is to build a house on quick­sand. For Nigeria to achieve its goal of becoming a $1 trillion economy, every policy decision, budget allocation, and infrastruc­tural investment must be guided by data that is accurate, timely, and beyond reproach,” Abbas said.

He noted that the existing Sta­tistics Act was enacted nearly two decades ago under circumstanc­es vastly different from today’s digital environment, arguing that the law no longer adequately addresses the realities of modern governance and economic man­agement.

According to him, the pro­posed legislation represents far more than a routine amendment to an existing law, describing it as a comprehensive effort to reposi­tion Nigeria’s statistical institu­tions to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global economy.

Abbas observed that when the current law was passed in 2007, technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data analytics and digital platforms were still emerging and had not become central to governance and decision-making processes.

Today, he said, governments, investors, businesses and devel­opment institutions rely heavily on real-time and credible data to make strategic decisions, making the need for a modern statistical framework more pressing than ever.

He stressed that reliable statis­tics have become indispensable for economic planning, poverty reduction, monitoring and eval­uation, resource allocation and the implementation of develop­ment programmes, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

The speaker also underscored the need for better coordination among government agencies in­volved in data collection, saying the current fragmented approach often results in duplication of ef­forts, wastage of resources and inconsistencies in official figures.

“We need a system that in­spires absolute trust, whether an investor looks at our numbers in Abuja, London or New York,” he said.

The public hearing comes at a time when countries across the world are investing heavily in digital statistical infrastruc­ture to improve evidence-based governance and strengthen in­vestor confidence. For Nigeria, whose economic management increasingly depends on accu­rate indicators such as inflation, unemployment, gross domestic product and poverty statistics, the effectiveness of the Nation­al Statistical System remains critical to national development planning.

Over the years, stakeholders have expressed concerns about funding constraints, weak coor­dination among data-producing institutions and the need for greater harmonisation of offi­cial statistics across government agencies.

The Statistics Bill, 2025 seeks to address these concerns by cre­ating a more integrated statistical ecosystem capable of generating high-frequency and granular data while maintaining inter­nationally accepted standards of transparency, credibility and quality.

Abbas reaffirmed the commit­ment of the National Assembly to an inclusive legislative pro­cess and called on stakeholders from government institutions, academia, civil society organisa­tions, development agencies and the private sector to scrutinise the bill and make recommenda­tions that would strengthen its provisions.

He said broad stakeholder participation would help ensure that the legislation not only ad­dresses existing challenges but also anticipates future develop­ments in data governance and statistical production.

Meanwhile, the National Bu­reau of Statistics threw its weight behind the proposed legislation, describing it as a critical reform capable of modernising Nigeria’s data governance framework and strengthening evidence-based policymaking.

Speaking at the hearing, the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Execu­tive Officer of the NBS, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said the country’s statistical system must evolve in response to rapid changes in technology and data generation.

According to him, data has become central to governance, economic growth and national development, making it imper­ative for the country’s legal and institutional frameworks to keep pace with emerging realities.

While acknowledging the con­tributions of the Statistics Act of 2007, Adeniran argued that tech­nological advancements and new methods of data generation have made a stronger legal framework necessary.

“The increasing use of digi­tal technologies, administrative data systems, geospatial informa­tion, big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and other emerging data sources require a modern legal framework capa­ble of supporting the evolving needs of the National Statistical System,” he said.

He explained that the bill is designed to strengthen the production, coordination and utilisation of official statistics across the country, improve insti­tutional effectiveness, encourage innovation and reinforce profes­sional standards in statistical operations.

Adeniran disclosed that the proposed legislation is structured into eight parts and contains 42 clauses addressing critical issues such as statistical governance, in­stitutional development, data col­lection and management, confi­dentiality, accountability, funding and stakeholder coordination.

He expressed confidence that the passage of the bill would significantly enhance Nigeria’s capacity to generate timely, reli­able and credible data required for effective governance and sus­tainable development.

The hearing attracted repre­sentatives of ministries, depart­ments and agencies, research­ers, development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders, many of whom described the proposed legis­lation as a necessary step to­wards strengthening Nigeria’s evidence-based policymaking framework.

If passed, the Statistics Bill, 2025 would represent the most significant reform of Nigeria’s statistical architecture since the enactment of the current law nearly two decades ago, poten­tially reshaping how government institutions collect, manage and utilise data in pursuit of national development objectives.