AU-IBAR strengthening Livestock data collection system in Nigeria

African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), through the Vet-Gov pilot project in Nigeria, is working to ensure harmonised livestock data collection system for good policy making. Dr. Ibrahim Gashash Ahmed, the Information System Manager, African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), who represented the Director of the AU-IBAR, Dr. Ahmed Ali, while […]

African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), through the Vet-Gov pilot project in Nigeria, is working to ensure harmonised livestock data collection system for good policy making.

Dr. Ibrahim Gashash Ahmed, the Information System Manager, African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), who represented the Director of the AU-IBAR, Dr. Ahmed Ali, while speaking with Daily Trust at the Vet-Gov stakeholders meeting on Monday in Abuja, said the meeting basically was to harmonise issues on data related to animal resources in Africa.

“Livestock statistics is very key to everything you do because you need data to be able to plan and formulate policies in order to measure progress on what is being done. One of the problems many African countries face is lack of adequate systems for data collection, and Nigeria is not an exception. We are doing fairly well but we need to improve as a country because in some cases there are disconnections between policy and data,” he said.

Speaking further, he said: “You know that animal resources data is being collected by so many actors in the field: that is, Ministry of Agriculture that has many departments such as National Bureau of Statistics, National Veterinary Research Institute, the universities, some private sector bodies. They all collect data in one way or the other, but we need to harmonise to make sure that when an institution says this is the population of animals in Nigeria for example, then that information should be the same in the next institution so that we will all talk in one voice.”

The Vet-Gov project is a special pilot programme being implemented by Nigeria after which a good practice paper will be produced that will be shared with other countries on the African continent for them to learn some of the good practices related to good livestock data collection and harmonisation.