Sierra Leone statistic boss highlights successes
The head statistician Statistics Sierra Leone office, Mohamed King Koroma has said that 2011 was a remarkable year concerning successes made by Statistics Sierra Leone. “The use of quality statistical data produced by Statistics Sierra Leone has encouraged both national and international partners to understand, analyze and proffer empirically informed decisions in the development process of Sierra Leone,” said Mohamed.
In his annual statement on Statistics Sierra Leone, he highlighted some of the activities and achievements his institution has so far made.
He noted however that the regional office has been strengthened with oversight responsibilities of district officers.
Mohamed noted that management of Statistics Sierra Leone was able to establish the following units: Millennium Development Goal (MDG), Justice Sector Statistics Unit, Energy and Environmental Statistics Unit, Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality Control Unit.
He said Sierra Leone data collection has been made public in the form of bulletins, tables and maps. Adding, in 2011 Statistics Sierra Leone published the 2010 Annual Economic Report, 2010 Tourism Sector Statistics Bulletin, First Foreign Trade Statistics Bulletin, First Business Certificate Report and the Agricultural Trading Report.
The collection of data is a key priority of the institution, he said, noting the collection of ICT Baseline Survey, Energy Statistics Bulletin, and Development of Statistical Standard for Data Collection in Sierra Leone, KAP Survey on Free Health Care, Child Labour Force Survey, Labour Force Survey, Sierra Leone Integrated Household Survey SLIHS, Mapping of Roads and Collaboration with the 19 local Councils.
To strengthen statistical dissemination, Mohamed said, a Public Relations Unit has been formed to work with stakeholders.
“We have also developed Statisticians in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Transport and Aviation, Trade, Agriculture, Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Health and Sanitation, Education, Science and Technology, Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs”, he said.
He commended his management team for their good working relationship, pointing out that Statistics Sierra Leone can now boast of quality staff – with qualifications ranging from Bachelor to Master degrees with professional working experiences.
Despite these successes, a lot of challenges have been faced in terms of funding gap in the implementation of the National Strategy for the Development of Statistic (NSDA) in Sierra Leone.
Also the need to integrate the 19 Local Government Councils into a monitoring mechanism of Statistics Sierra Leone and to construct a modern building with 19 sophisticated integrated data system.
The current building, he said, is dated back in 1960 and lacks the corporate outlook and IT sophistication as compared to other statistic offices in Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa.
Mohamed called on government and development partners to support and provide joint solution if Statistics Sierra Leone is to be more professional.
He expressed profound gratitude to all those who have participated in the work of Statistics Sierra Leone in the achievement of it goals.
He thanked Development Bank and DFID for their financial and technical supports to Statistics Sierra Leone.
By Francis Clarkson
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