The Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination Head, Central Results Delivery Coordination Unit, Hadiza Bala Usman, on Tuesday stressed that Africa’s current drive towards all-inclusive and sustainable development of nations in the continent would not achieve the desired results unless developmental policies and programmes are evidenced-based data driven.
The development expert made this remark in her Keynote Address delivered at the African Statistics Day Celebration 2025 held at the ‘Statistics House’ Abuja.
Noting that the current journey towards Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) nations will be affected by sundry factors, the President’s aide specifically maintained none would be as crucial to the success of the journey than timely data.
Usman clarified: The journey of Africa’s transformation will be powered by many forces namely, political will, innovation, and human capital—but none will be more central than data. We must not delude ourselves to believe otherwise.
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“Data enriched by innovation gives life to policy, purpose to governance, and credibility to delivery. Let us continue to innovate boldly, collaborate deeply, to ensure that we deliver to the people consistently.
“We must work to see that our data systems not only measure progress, but accelerate it. A just Africa, a peaceful Africa, an inclusive Africa, and a prosperous Africa are within our reach—and innovation in data remains one of the surest paths to achieving them” Usman stressed.
According to her, it is a honour for her, on behalf of the President, to join Nigeria’s community of data and statistics professionals to commemorate the 2025 edition of the African Statistics Day, a day that celebrates the power of numbers, evidence, and innovation in shaping the destiny of nations.
She described the theme of this year’s Africa Statistics Day event “Leveraging Innovations in Data and Statistics to Promote a Just, Peaceful, Inclusive and Prosperous Society for Africans” as relevant to national and continental contexts, reminding all stakeholders in the political economies that in today’s world, progress is measurable, and justice is quantifiable when we have the right data and systems to interpret it.
On data as the foundation of governance globally, Usman clarified: The world is currently experiencing an era of unprecedented transformation in the way data is produced, analysed, and utilised. From AI-assisted analytics to geospatial mapping, digital surveys, and machine learning, innovation is revolutionising the data ecosystem in rapid and diverse ways.
“In the past, data was seen as a back-office technical asset; today, it has become a strategic national resource, without which nations could lose the tune to sustainable development. These days, effective governments depend on data in determining how to allocate resources, data governs how businesses assess opportunities, how humanitarian organisations reach the vulnerable, and how citizens hold leaders accountable.
“Data has become a compass without which governments would be flying blind, as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said in November 2023
“In recognition of the importance of data in modern day governance, the President has placed evidence-based decision-making at the heart of Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration. This ensures that every policy, every programme, and every investment is guided by reliable data that reflects the realities of Nigerians”, she added.
The expert spoke on the increasing importance of innovation in data sourcing, collating, processing and publication, saying that today we live in an era where technological advancements and innovations have increased knowledge and curiosity among citizens, who now demand and insist on accountability from their leaders.
Usman pointed out that in view of this, governments now need to make faster, fairer, and more defensible decisions, which traditional, paper-based survey systems can no longer sustain, adding that innovation has therefore become the bridge between the modest capacities of the past and the dynamic demands of the present. Innovation gives data speed, scale, precision, accessibility, and the power to predict.
