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From: Basil Obasi, Abuja
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has emerged as the winner of the Best Public Sector website for the year 2016 and 2017.
This landslide success is actually well deserved considering the level of meticulousness and professionalism which the bureau has demonstrated in communicating evidence based research outputs to the consumers of data in the country.
Interestingly, data users may also notice we have significantly increased the number and type of published reports on the NBS website, increasing the disaggregation of broad indicators in some areas (for example, consumer prices data) and expanding the scope of analysis for others (for example, trade data).
In 2016 for instance, report showed that the NBS released 107 reports (or roughly 1 every 3 working days), over 2000 core indicators, as well as numerous stand-alone infographics.
This was in response to requests for more data, as well as more reader-friendly statistical publications, ensuring that public data is accessible to a wider audience.
Albeit the rigorous nature of survey studies in a highly heterogeneous country like ours; the NBS under the unique stewardship of Dr. Yemi Kale, has recently gained public confidence and reliability on social statistics and economic data released periodically by the bureau as a guide to public policy making, business decision and rational behaviour by various economic agents in the country.
The NBS website has unique feature structured along international best practice, to ensure coherence with data consumers’ needs and reliability. Some of these features include the presence of an e-library which serves as archive to most reports and publications, the data release calendar which provides helps users to anticipate data and be highly informed; data request link that provides first research level data for professional researchers as well as an App store and Google play components that ensures wider usage and visibility.
Observably, the NBS website has become blazingly fast and easy to navigate and offer access to information readily; hence this award is apt and well-deserved.
