NBS, NACOTAN Lament Paucity of Data in Cotton Production

James Emejo in Abuja
The National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) and the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) have signed a partnership to build a credible, robust and reliable database for the country’s cotton industry.

The lack of credible data is considered a setback for the cotton, textile and garment (CTG) sector.
But the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both parties in Abuja, will focus on building and warehousing the database to ultimately drive a market oriented cotton industry in Nigeria.

The Statistician General/Chief Executive of NBS, Dr. Simon Harry and President of NACOTAN, Mr. Anibe Achimugu endorsed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.

Harry, however, pointed out that despite the identified efforts in reviving the sector, cotton production in Nigeria remained remarkably low compared to other African countries including Burkina Faso and Mali.

He added that Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, and Côte d’Ivoire, the leading producing countries, had seen their volumes expanding due to area expansion and government support.

He said there was need for collection of data to determine current trends in the industry.
The NBS boss said, “However, data to measure the impact of all these interventions are in most cases not available, and where available are not adequate or not up to date. Not only this, accessing them in most cases is very difficult because of the way they are kept.”
On his part, however, Achimugu said the agreement will facilitate the rapid revival of the cotton industry.

He said, “We are looking to grow and compete better, with adequate and quality data. We used to be the number two employer of labor in Nigeria, second to the public sector. The MOU will benefit other sectors and Nigeria’s Economy in general. With better data, we can make informed decisions, identify our strengths and weaknesses, strategize for the future and make sustainable policies.

“In NACOTAN, we have enormous data coming in continuously. NBS are specialists in data collection and management. This is a wonderful union for the development of the economy of this country.”