By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
It has been observed that the UNFPA’s flagship report (the State of the World Population (SWOP) Report 2024) that was launched by the ED of UNFPA in Abuja in April 2024, have demonstrated some progress in ending unmet needs for family planning, preventing maternal and eliminating gender-based violence along with harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation and child, early, and forced marriage.
Much of this progress has been fuelled by the enhanced availability of data and sophisticated analytical tools that have enabled better planning, effective monitoring, and the design of targeted interventions.
The assertion was contained in an address by, UNFPA Nigeria Resident Representative, Dr. Gifty Addico delivered at the 2024 World Population Commemoration on Thursday, the 11th of July 2024 at the Bauchi State Secretariat, by Deborah Tabara, Gender/Reproductive Health Analyst.
Gifty Adfurther stated that, “This data-driven approach has led to significant achievements. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that this progress has not been uniform across all communities. Our findings reveal that the most marginalized and vulnerable populations are still being left behind, and disparities in access to healthcare are growing both within and between countries.”
While delivering warm greetings from the UNFPA Nigeria Resident Representative, Dr. Gifty Addico, Deborah Tabara stated that,”I am deeply honoured to stand before you today to address you at this event as part of our collective efforts on the commemoration of the World Population Day 2024 on the essential theme of “Embracing the Power of Inclusive Data Towards a Resilient and Equitable Future for All” in Bauchi state.”
According to Dr. Gifty Addico,”This theme calls for reflections on the indispensable role of inclusive data in crafting a resilient and just future for everyone. In a world of uncertainty and change, our path to a peaceful and prosperous future is illuminated by the power of evidence-based solutions and the strategic use of reliable, inclusive data.”
She added that,”While data collection and analysis tools have significantly advanced, these developments have also uncovered critical information gaps and potential risks. Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, there has been a global call for reliable, timely, and culturally relevant data that is disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and other factors.”
“Unfortunately, we have not yet fully met this call to action. Many individuals, communities, and needs remain uncounted and unrepresented due to inadequate investment in data systems,” She lamented.
Gifty Addico added that, “For humanity to progress, people must be counted, wherever they are and whoever they are in all their diversity. To end inequality, to find and grow peace and prosperity, to more threads of the world needs to do more for inclusion.”
“To go uncounted is to be made invisible and, as a result, left unserved. This contributes to a 10-year-old girl being left with no healthcare when she is displaced during conflict. Or to an older woman with a disability having no safety net when a crisis strikes. It leaves a newborn in a remote indigenous community without the passport to protection that birth registration conifers,” She also said.
According to her,”Over the last three decades, heeding the call of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, societies around the world have made tremendous strides in improving population data gathering, analysis and use. New population numbers, disaggregated by age, ethnicity, gender, and other factors, reflect the diversity of our societies. To take just one example. approximately two thirds of countries now include questions on disability in their censuses. And this two-thirds of countries Includes Nigeria as evident in the 1991 and 2006 Censuses and the 2018 NDHS.”
She added that,”Advances like these have improved the delivery of healthcare to people all over the world, resulting in significant leaps forward in sexual and reproductive health and the ability to exercise rights and choices. Increasingly, new technologies are enabling more granular and timely measurement of more people’s experiences than ever before.”
“Even so, the most marginalized communities are still underrepresented in data, and the consequences of this deeply affect their lives and well-being. Recent UNFPA research reveals acute and growing inequalities, within and among countries. In too many places, for example, women from racial and ethnic minority groups are nearly invisible in statistics tracking maternal deaths,” She added.
According to her,”This is one reason why health and social services overlook their needs, and a far greater share of these women die giving birth. In Nigeria, national data is not avallable to track maternal deaths at state, local government and ward levels for planning thereby making women who die while giving life nearly invisible in national statistics.”
She stressed that,”World Population Day 2024 is a moment to ask who is still going uncounted and why and what these may cost individuals, societies, and our global efforts to leave no one behind. It is also a moment for all of us to commit to doing more to ensure that our data systems capture the full range of human diversity so that everyone is seen, can exercise their human rights and can reach their full potential.”
Gifty Addico added that,”Thirty years on from Cairo, there’s much to be celebrated but still much work to be done. People may be hard to reach, but no one is unreachable. To realize the rights and choices of those pushed to the margins of our societies, we have to count them because everyone counts. Our rich human tapestry is only as strong as the weakest thread. When data and other systems work for those on the margins, they work for everyone. This is how we accelerate progress for all. UNFPA looks forward to continuing to strengthen collaboration with the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to leave no one behind, count everyone.”
According to her,”UNFPA stands ready to support the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to harness the power of inclusive data to build resilient systems and societies. This is because inclusive data is not an end in itself; but a means to informed decision-making, especially to shape policies, programmes, strategies, plans, and budgets that promote inclusivity and equality. Together with you, we can forge a future where every person is counted, every community is acknowledged, and every need is addressed.”
In his remarks, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), stated that,”The theme of the 2024 World Population Day “Embracing the Power of Inclusive Data Towards a Resilient and Equitable Future for All” is a reflection of the outcome of both global and regional reviews and evaluations of progress and achievements attained in the last three-decades of the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (POA); a decade of the Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development (AADPD); and almost two-decades of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among others.”
According to him,”The outcome reports at national, regional and global levels. particularly in Africa showed dearth of data/information and sufficient evidence to explain situations, track implementation, measure achievements, extent of progress and identify benefits and improvements on peoples’ well-being or transformation.”
Nasir Kwarra added that,”To demonstrate how worrisome the outcome was, the 2024 State of the World Population Report (SWOP), launched in Nigeria on April, 24th this year, dedicated its chapter three titled “Counting Every Stitch” to highlight the importance of inclusiveness in data collection. One of the features under that chapter (pages 76-81) was on the necessity for African censuses to strive to count everyone.*
He stressed that, “The theme hinges on the golden rule of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda with the promise to leave no one behind. Realizing this promise, first requires the existence of areas where they are located/reside, urser, what circumstances/situations do they exist/operate, what their ages and needs are, and how data generating institutions or researchers can capture them in their diversity during data collection processes.”
According to him,”Next to that is how these data can or are readily available to all- decision-makers, planners, civil society organizations, businesses and citizens in order to shape policies, direct actions, advise on development options. and permits governments to be held to account, in a way that truly reflects the needs of everyone.”
“Therefore, for more understanding, inclusive data connotes ensuring that the data we collected or intend to collect should give account of all people (a person or part or a group of people), regardless of their age. gender, ethnicity and location. It’s about closing the data gaps that unintentionally aid inequality; allows the risk of groupthink, blind spots, biases etc that can impair decision making andisistort outcomes, among others,” he stressed.
The NPC Chairman added that,”It flags two key critical matters and dimensions:
Spotlights/underscore/draws attention to the importance of generating an inclusive data and Spot-checks – if generating institutions are producing data that are in compliance with the principles of Inclusive data.
He also stated that and by extension
f these institutions have capacity and wherewithal to generate that class of data of interest or focus.
To provide elaborate meaning and contextually situate the message behind the theme, there is need to have a broad understanding of data connect with Resilient and Equitable Future for All –
Resilient how people are able to quickly recover from shocks. stretches, stress, pressure or traumatic encounters, etc and Equity recognizes each person has different circumstances and needs, meaning different Groups of people need different resources and opportunities allocated to them in order to thrive.
That is to emphasize the need to genuinely recognize and value the uniqueness of and contribution of each individual groups.
It also highlights the principles of Sustainable Development development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the aspiration of future generations to meet their own needs.
According to him, “In essence, the 2024 World Population Day (WPD) offers opportunities to look beyond patches of improvements in data collection and analysis, but to ask ourselves as data producers whether during data collection in censuses, surveys and registration of civil events the Right Questions are asked? Is our data collection safe for all people? Who is still going uncounted and unaccounted for.”
He also stated that,”Evaluating our data generating and management systems based on the message behind the theme, Nigeria falls short of the expectations from previous to present data collection expectations, starting with: timing of data collection, where the previous census was conducted 18 years ago; resulting in the use of obsolete information that could mislead policy decisions, and planning, thereby compromising resilience in policy measures and rewarding excellence and equality and Technology deployment and human capacity and capability for quality data collection, analysis, dissemination, availability and data use.
It is when individuals, businesses, group of persons and the government have access to timely, representative and comprehensive data, mostly sourced from censuses not based on speculations, then and only then they can be guided to take informed decisions and implement actionable plans that will better their lives.
For example: women having access to information services that will enable them manage their fertility, will lead to reduced maternal death, improve survival, facilitate population management to pave way for achieving demographic transition and realizing Demographic Dividends.
Making our Civil Registration Systems functional will guarantee all births and deaths are registered, irrespective of where or when the event occurred, leading to achieving SDG 16.9 provide legal identity for all. including birth registration, by 2030.
To have the right information/evidence/data for measuring and predicting likely demographic shifts, we need to hold a census that will deploy modern technology to generate timely, reliable and acceptable data required for addressing the different needs of the various population groups and implement interventions that will create opportunities for progress and removes barriers and inhibitions which will guarantee individuals realizing their full potential.
He stressed that Nigeria needs to strengthen its data generating institutions; adequately fund periodic data collection exercises that is inclusive and comprehensive: and most importantly provide legislative frame to engender timely conduct of censuses as well as promote the use of these data to guide policy decisions.”
Some of the key messages to reflect on going forward, include -That inclusive and reliable data/evidence can enable ascertaining a peaceful and prosperous future, building of resilient systems and
societies as well as Data collection and analysis tool should be deployed to facilitate good representation and use of data.
That Nigeria should champion data collection that counts people in their diversity and in all their complexity: that our data collection exercise, particularly for the upcoming Population and Housing Census would be Inclusive compliant and leaving no one behind.
He then informed that Nigeria was among nations who did not have sufficient, comprehensive and inclusive data to evaluate its performance, nor challenges during the regional review of AADPD+10 and for ICPD@30 POA reporting during the 157th Session of the Commission on Population and Development, early this year.
The NPC Chairman reiterated that the theme calls for the evaluation of our data generating systems/institutions; our perceptions on issues of data and has raised a concern we not ignore, but collectively (government at all levels, individuals, the Civil Society Organization (CSOs). Partners, Donor, leaderships of Religion. Culture and Tradition including the private sectors) resolve it in the shortest possible time.
The Commission then acknowledged with gratitude the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the development Research and Projects Center (dRPC) for the convening of the Briefing as well as the contributions of all other stakeholders, partners and donors.
