The new Statistician-General of the Federation, Semiu Adeniran, says the bureau will expand its scope to produce data on migration, Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) and security.

Mr Adeniran said this while taking the oath of office and secrecy ceremony at the NBS headquarters on Wednesday.

“As the role of national statistics offices across the world expands in the modern-day data ecosystem, we will focus on building our capacity to produce further insight and knowledge base.

“We will also expand the scope of our statistical product to reflect the recent development in the macro and socio-development space.

“In this light, in the coming months, we will begin the process of producing statistics on new areas such as migration, IDPs and data on security,” he said.

Mr Adeniran said expanding the scope of its data would ensure that the NBS was delivering on its mandate of producing “relevant and adequate” information for policy decision making.

He added that it would also mean that the bureau was contributing its quota of solutions to the challenges being faced by the country.

Mr Adeniran noted that the late statistician-General’s brief tenure was impactful as he committed to consolidating his achievement.

“I will seek to consolidate on the achievement he recorded. The current structure of the office will be maintained and, where possible improved on as the need arises,” he said.

According to Mr Adeniran, efforts would be made to improve the general orientation and philosophy of staff members through change managerial courses and orientation programmes offered by the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria and other renowned institutions.

He said in the coming weeks, the bureau would begin the process of rebasing the Consumer Price Index and the reweighting of the consumption basket.

Godwin Ameh, director, Corporate Planning and Statistical Coordination, NBS, in his response, assured that staff members and management would give the new S-G their support to carry out his duties effectively.

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of Mr Adeniran on May 20, following the death of Simon Harry, the former Statistician-General on April 13.

(NAN)