Kale: Nigerians Must Give Accurate Information to Aid Govt Planning

Oluchi Chibuzor

The former Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr. Yemi Kale, has stressed the need for Nigerians to always give accurate information to government data gathering agencies.
This, he said was key in government planning, adding that it would aid national development.

Kale who stated this recently, while speaking at ‘Experiencing PR,’ annual conference 2023 event in Lagos, that was organised by the Nigerian Women in Public Relations, said when it comes to data, accuracy and professionalism remains sacrosanct.
Also commenting on educating the public on the need to give accurate information, Kale who is presently the Chief Economist at KPMG Nigeria, noted that openness by the public towards data collecting agencies was very important.

According to him, “Whatever you tell me, I will take and there is no way I can tell you are telling the truth or not; but when you give the wrong information it affects the data I give to the government and the government will now plan policies based on the data you gave them.
“So, I think it is best to give honest information, accurate and transparent information and to cooperate with data collecting agencies because the objective of what they are doing is to get information that can assist members of the public.”

The newly appointed KPMG Partner, while narrating how he was able to transform the NBS from a low morale institution to a leading data bank government agency spanning 11 years, acknowledged that understanding public perception and reputation were crucial to data gathering.
As the lead speaker of the event with the theme, “Beyond Crisis: PR for Perception Management in Business and Public Affairs”, he said the NBS under his watch was able to improve public perception of the bureau through technology.

“In getting good data, you are going to step on toes. Whether we like it or not, Nigeria is a developing country. Majority of the data could be negative that is why we are developing. And if you insist that you are not going to doctor any information you are going to step on toes. But the perception has changed so strongly that it was difficult for those that are angry to do anything about it, they felt we had strong public support.

“When you adopt technology, it is very difficult for errors to be made and that is exactly what we did with the NBS using computer-assisted internet devices that capture the coordinates of where a data is collected so that nobody can sit down under a mango tree and start making up something.

“I think the best way to improve data accuracy, whether it is population census or socio-economic data, is technology. Once technology is involved it is very difficult to manipulate. But when it is manually done, where people are just writing and doing things, then it becomes very easy for people to tamper with it. It is a peculiar situation concerning our country.”
However, commenting on the enormous amount the country would be spending on the forthcoming census and its difficult terrain, Kale, said “When I started I had N100 million to gather data for the entire Nigeria, but I think today they are probably N4 billion and it is because they were seeing that the image of the office was changing.”

He stressed that data gathering was expensive, saying, “in Nigeria, the terrain is very difficult. Until we have a proper system where there is an automatic register of all Nigerians so that you don’t have to be going to them all the time it will curtail expenses.”
Declaring the event open, the Convener, Nigerian Women in PR, Tolulope Olorundero, said the event was a historical moment for the development of PR in Nigeria, and the elevation of the practice in Nigeria in the global industry.

“It is humbling to conceptualise an event of this magnitude, articulate it and get the nod from our esteemed speakers, share the information publicly and have 150+ physical participants and 300+ virtual delegates,” Olorundero added.
Commenting on the need for organisations to have a good reputation, the Corporate Affairs and Legal Director, International Breweries, Temitope Oguntokun, said positive perception always leads to improved outcomes.