A statistician, Dr Olusanya Olubusoye, has advised the Federal Government to accompany the just inaugurated Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) with basic monitoring and evaluation kits.
Olubusoye, the second Vice-President, Nigerian Statistical Association (NSA), gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
The ERGP’s projected that Nigeria will make significant progress to achieve structural economic change with a more diversified and inclusive economy in five key areas by 2020.
The key areas are stable macro-economic environment, agricultural transformation, food security, sufficiency in energy and improved transportation infrastructure.
He said that government should accompany the ERGP with basic monitoring and evaluation kits such as performance indicators, data collection framework and reporting schedule.
“A simple illustration to use is the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global plans of action.
“Both of them were accompanied with achievable goals, quantifiable targets, performance indicators, data requirements and even reporting framework.
“For instance, MDGs had 21 quantifiable targets and 60 indicators for tracking progress on the agenda while the current SDGs has 17 goals and 232 performance indicators.
“So, the truth is that without practical indicators, goals remain purely aspirational and progress cannot be measured,” he said.
Similarly, the official said reliable and timely data were needed for systematic follow-up and progress reviews.
Olubusoye said that government should also look at the nature of the plan and review it.
According to him, the plan is macro-centric rather than micro-centric in nature.
“The plan emphasises more on economic aggregates, Gross Domestic Product, which hardly reflect the reality at the micro levels.
“Individual is concerned with how the plan will translate to improved quality of life, more food on the table, affordable housing, affordable and accessible health facilities.
“They are also looking at good water, safe and secured environment, quality education, basic infrastructure such as good roads, railway, among others.’’
He, however, said that it was not clear how many people the plan would cater for.
“By this, I mean the population figure used for the plan.
“Nowhere in the plan is reference made to the current population size but quick to project 289 million by year 2050.
“How realistic is the figure? Is the figure our own, or estimated, or ‘guesstimated’?
“How many people are covered in the first year of implementation? How many will be covered in the second year and up to 2020?
“What if the country is planning for more or for less people than it has now, Can such a plan be realistic?”
The official said that the fundamental question with regards to the plan was the way it differed from the previous development plans.
He said, “how is ERGP different from the previous plans such as the 1st – 4th National Development Plans, Structural Adjustment Programme, National Economic Empowerment And Development Strategy.
“The other question: Is it different in concept, scope, goals, monitoring, evaluation, performance indicators, reporting schedule etc?”
Olubusoye said that those were the important areas and gaps that the government needed to fill in the plan.
“The solution is to fill the missing gaps in the plan and the basic thing is also to use data appropriately.
“We don’t have regard for data in this country. How can you have good plan like this and you don’t have performance indicator?
“You don’t have framework for collecting data that will help you to monitor progress and yet you don’t have reporting framework. How will the government be reporting to Nigerians on progress made,’’ he said.
