From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
As part of measures to curb insecurity in the country, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the Royal Statistical Society Nigeria, has developed a modem that can use data to track criminals.
Speaking at a training for NBS staff on how to use the modem, the Information Director of the society, Dr Olayiwola Matthew, noted that the major cause of insecurity in Nigeria is a communication gap.
‘When we talk of communication gap we simply mean lack of information. So, what is information? When we talk of data in Nigeria we are talking of NBS. So, the problem of Nigeria lies in the lack of information. The modem called the Bias Induction modem will find a solution to Nigeria’s security challenges” he assured.
Declaring the training open, the Statistician-General, Dr Simon Harry, who was represented by the Director of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Mr S Adeniran, noted that capacity building for NBS staff is one of the key pillars of the agenda of the new management.
‘It is in this light that we tried to have this training today. I want to say that this training is a unique opportunity for NBS staff and we thank the Royal Statistical Society, Nigeria, for giving us the opportunity to interact with them. This is not the first time we are having training on software but we believe that with the crop of facilitators that we have we are going to get more and gain more from this particular one. I will like to enjoin all participants to listen attentively, co-operate with the facilitators, follow their instructions and you will gain more from the training.
‘The facilitators are tested and trusted hands. This is not the first time they are conducting this type of training. They have gone round to conduct this training.
‘We must build capacity within the system. The management thought it wise to build capacity. We are used to starting and other software but the world is evolving. So, we have to move forward. We have to look for more robust applications to do our analysis. There are limitations to some of the tools. That is why this is very important for us in NBS as a national statistics office in this country. At the end of the day, we will be able to meet the needs of our teaming users,’ he noted.