Statistical units vital in govt depts

Business

By Lemach Lavari
CHIEF Statistician Roko Koloma says the lack of statistical units in government departments and agencies delays the production of statistics for government use.
Koloma told The National yesterday at a statistical stakeholders workshop in Port Moresby that government agencies and departments must realise the importance of having statistical units within their organisations.
These units will be responsible for compiling data and generating statistics.
He said the delay in attaining national accounts details had resulted in the non-availability of Gross Domestic Product reports from the National Statistical Office in the past eight years.
“The national statistical system is made up of different units of government. The NSO is the agency that is mandated to coordinate the effort,” he said.
“Our intention is to ensure that government agencies work together with the NSO to compile official data.
“I challenge the government agencies to establish statistical units and have statisticians working in these units”
Koloma said statistics were vital in development planning.
Having government departments and agencies providing datafrom their statistical units can improve efforts in realising sustainable development goals and other government goals, he said.
The theme of the two-day workshop is “Appreciating data and statistics” and aimed at bringing all statistical stakeholders together to consolidate their efforts in providing data to the NSO.
“I want us to go out of this workshop having built relationships and partnerships,” Kolomo said.