National Bureau of Statistics appeals for funds to function

(radiotamazuj.org)

The South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is calling on the government to provide funds to allow it to collect data across the country.

The Bureau is mandated by the country's constitution to collect, analyze and disseminate all official economic, social, and demographic statistics.

Addressing the Celebration of the African Statistics Day in Juba last Friday, the Bureau's Acting Chairperson and the director general of finance, Nugen Dobo, said her institution is lacking the financial support to carry out its mandate. 

"To come with data is a process, it involves training, it involves funds, it involves people to go to the states, it involves people to go to collect data from people at the grassroots and then you come up with the raw materials and process it until it becomes a data. NBS in collaboration with the government and partners is mandated to provide data to the country," stated Dobo. 

"You are to support NBS financially, especially because any process you are doing needs money. So, we have to put more budgets to the national bureau of statistics so that they can provide us with what we want, and without data, nothing will go ahead," Dobo further argued.

For his part John Angech, the Director General for planning in the national ministry of agriculture said the bureau has no data yet data collection is happening across the country.

He urged the institution to ensure they host all information about South Sudan.

"Now you need to make sure that those who are hosting these data are accountable and you make sure that these data are brought to the national bureau of statistics and we have to host," Angech stressed.

The celebration of African Statistics Day was marked under the theme ''Strengthening data systems by modernizing the production and use of agricultural statistics: informing policies with a view to improving resilience in agriculture, nutrition and food security in Africa".

The National Bureau of Statistics of South Sudan is mandated constitutionally to host data in the country; however, most of the data are being hosted by partner agencies such as the UN and international organizations.