Imo govt. begins rehabilitation of abandoned State Statistics Bureau

The Governor Emeka Ihedioha administration has begun rehabilitation of the abandoned Imo State Bureau of Statistics (ISBS) with a view to transforming it into a “world class body that would meet the statistical data needs of the state and that of other national and international establishments.”

The newly appointed Director General of the ISBS, Enyinnaya Amadikwa, who announced this on Monday, reaffirmed the commitment of the state governor, Ihedioha, towards a speedy rehabilitation of the long abandoned facility.

Amadikwa spoke during his first interactive session with the staff of the Bureau in Owerri, Imo State capital, barely 48 hours after his appointment.

He assured that the government was committed to having the agency fully operational in no distant time, as according to him, would serve as the main source of data and other statistical information that would support its effort towards rebuilding of the state.

The new DG said his plans is to “reform the agency into a full IT driven bureau that would provide timely, complete, accurate and reliable statistical data that is critical for creating and sustaining an environment which fosters strong, equitable development.”

According to him, “This is an essential ingredient for formulation of sound economic development policies, by which the decision making and development plans of the government becomes concentric.”

Lamenting the abandonment of the Bureau by the immediate past administration of Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Amadikwa wondered how any sane government would abandon an agency such as the State Bureau of Statistics which he said should be providing it with the reliable statistics that describes the reality of people’s everyday lives.

The Bureau which was set up by the Imo State Statistical Law 2010, served for collation, compilation, analysis, storage, publication and dissemination of other information in the state until it was abandoned by the Okorocha administration and its facilities allowed to decay.

Speaking during an interactive session, the immediate past Statistician General, Mr. Maduabuchi Ikeh, attributed the abandonment and level of decay in the Bureau to what he described as the former governor, Okorocha’s “evasiveness to data, anti-statistics and retrogressive nature”.

He noted that, “In spite of all that we did to uphold the ideals of statistical practice in the state, we met stumbling blocks and hiccups from the former governor. In the last five years, there has been no imprest to this bureau – I have been running the office from my salary. The state Bureau of Statistics is supposed to make statistical data available to the governor, but we found ourselves in a situation where we were dealing with a governor who was anti-data and statistics and would do whatever he wanted, and has other means of conjuring figures.

“At times, the Bureau is not even brought into the main stream of political and economic developments in the state. We had a situation where we have over 145 staff on our payroll receiving salaries for doing nothing. It was a very unfortunate situation.”