The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume, has said that accurate data would help in national planning as well as budgeting.
He noted that for a long time, Nigeria has been budgeting without proper planning and it hardly gets down to the grassroots for lack of accurate data that could drive development.
The SGF made this known in Enugu on Monday at the South East geopolitical zone’s stakeholders Sensitisation meeting for the activation and implementation of the local government proof of address system, POA.
Represented by the Director, Political and Constitutional Matters at the office of the SGF, Mrs Helen Garpiya, Akume noted that with the introduction of Proof of Address, accurate data could be procured for proper planning and budgeting for the growth and nationand development.
“When we are planning, we should know how many people are in Enugu for instance so that we’ll budget and know the amenities that will go down to the grassroots.
“We need to get it right. For a long time, we have been budgeting but it doesn’t really get there but with this POA, we’ll be able to get there because we have data. This is a step to having data for Nigeria,” he points out.
He said that with the POA, the exact number of people in Nigeria would be known as that of foreigners coming into Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah has said that if the activation of local government proof of address is well carried out who was represented at the occasion by Ifeanyi Agujobi, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development said the level of insecurity especially in the South East would be minimised as the POA would go a long way in helping to plan developmental projects in South East.
Mbah said his administration has partially keyed into the plan by the establishment of a community based rural demarcation system.
Also in an address, the National President of ALGON, Hon. Bello Lawal, said that the POA would help the nation get accurate statistics for economic growth.
Bello, represented by the Enugu State ALGON chairman, Hon. Sydney Edeh, said that the exercise would not be a mere bureaucratic one but a serious exercise meant at getting it right.
“The Proof of Address is not just another bureaucratic exercise; it is an integral part of civil registration and vital statistics ecosystem. It serves as a crucial pillar in national and global data infrastructure contributing meaningfully, to our development goals
“By providing verifiable proof of residence, the POA will support effective planning, financial inclusion and overall economic growth,” Bello said.
He said that it was because of the importance of the exercise that ALGON decided to key into the project.
The establishment of Proof of Address Registration Centres in Nigeria aims to provide citizens with a reliable means of verifying their residential addresses, financial, and legal purposes.
It is an act of verifying where a person or business physically resides. It is typically done by reviewing an approved proof of address document and cross- referencing it with both identification or ownership documents and an address database.
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