Nigeria is among 20 African countries to benefit from the African Development Bank (AfDB) open data platforms.
Other
countries include Algeria, Cameroon, Cape Verde,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana,
Rwanda, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania,
Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
AfDB in a press statement made
available to ITRealms by the African Press Organization, Thursday endorsed
by Director, Statistics Department, Mr. Charles Leyeka Lufumpa, said that the
programme was part of the AfDB’s recently launched “Africa Information Highway”
initiative aimed at significantly improving data management and dissemination on
African continent.
According to him, work has commenced
to complete platforms for the rest of African countries by July 2013.
AfDB official explained that the
Open Data platform is a user-friendly tool for extracting data, creating and
sharing own customized reports, and visualizing data across themes, sectors and
countries in tables, charts and maps.
Through the Open Data Platform, he
said, users could access a wide range of development data on African countries
from multiple international and national official sources.
“The platform also facilitates the
collection, analysis and sharing of data among countries and with international
development partners,” he said, pointing out that the platform offers a unique
opportunity for various users, such as policymakers, analysts, researchers,
business leaders and investors around the world, to gain access to reliable and
timely data on Africa.
Additionally, he said, users could
visualize time series development indicators over a period of time, perform
comprehensive analysis at country and regional levels, utilize
presentation-ready graphics or create their own, blog, and share their views
and work with others, thereby creating an informed community of users.
The director emphasized that the
Open Data Platform initiative is a response by the African Development Bank
Group aimed at significantly increasing access to quality data necessary for
managing and monitoring development results in African countries, including the
MDGs.
“It responds to a number of
important global and regional initiatives to scale up the availability of
quality data on Africa and so foster evidence-based decision-making, public accountability
and good governance,” he said.
Once implemented, he said, the Open
Data Platform will be used by African countries for all data submission flows
to the AfDB and possibly other international development partners, including
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), EU Commission, World Health Organization
(WHO), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), African Union Commission
(AUC) and UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
“This initiative presents a unique
opportunity for African countries to take the lead in implementation and
promotion of international statistical standards across all countries in the
region and in enhancing the quality of the data disseminated by African
countries,” he said.
Maintaining that the initiative will also significantly revolutionize data management and dissemination in Africa, and reposition the continent for more effective participation in the global information economy.
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