The Federal Government has blamed the inability to gather reliable data on inadequate number of statisticians in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

To bridge the gap, government has concluded arrangements to recruit more statisticians not only to strengthen data collation in the MDAS, but to also reduce the costs of hiring consultants.

Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, disclosed this during a meeting with civil servants that are under-going data analysis training in Abuja.

The five-day programme focused on survey design, data interpretation, and reporting for members of Project Management Team (PMTs) and other relevant officials drawn from across the Federal Civil Service in line with the implementation of FCSSIP 2020.

She said the move has become necessary, as the few statisticians left in the Service presently are already getting aged and failing out.

She noted: “I believe that after this training, there will be a turnaround in verifiable and scientific data that will better reposition the Service. A lot of information has been gathered, but how do we save them to provide strong administration for government? We can now proffer solutions and identify loopholes on surveying results. This will make you take over the leadership of your programme.”

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Policy and Strategic Service, Office of the HOS, Dr Magdalene Ajani, confirmed that the Federal Government presently has 100,000 core civil servants in the country.
Ajani added, “We got this figure after we did a lot of clean up in Northern Nigeria. Our next target is the South South, South Wes,t and the South East, by the Q4 this year, we should be able to tell you exactly the number of the entire core civil servants in the country.”