The new Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) office complex, was yesterday officially commissioned by the vice-president, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, at the Kanifing Institutional Layout, on behalf of President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh. The new statistics office was said to had been built at the tune of D17.2 million.

"The first attempt at building and empowering statistical development in The Gambia government was in the 1970s through the Statistics Act of 1972, which led to the establishment of what, until recently, used to be called the Central Statistics Department," said Vice-President Njie-Saidy.

In a statement delivered on behalf of the president, Vice-President Njie-Saidy stressed the importance of statistics in national development, saying that statistics constitute the basis for the effective monitoring and evaluation of movements of macro and micro variables across a wide range of social, demographic and economic issues.

"Overtime, with the demand for reliable and timely statistics [rising], the department found it difficult to cope with this upsurge in demand.

It became also apparent that there has been an uncontrolled mushrooming of statistical units, primarily in sectoral departments of state, as well as other institutions of government, all almost producing different and largely conflicting statistical information and in many instances, causing unwarranted duplication of efforts. In short, statistical efforts for most of the time, have been uncoordinated, and the overall impact, consequently chaotic," the vice-president observed.

She recalled 2005, when the transformation was initiated through the enactment of a new Statistics Act and the creation of a more empowered Gambia Bureau of Statistics. She said the Act captures the aspirations of the government towards fulfilling the UN fundamental principles of statistics, and ensuring full conformity to international statistical standards and best practices.

The vice-president then lauded the efforts of the World Bank, through the Capacity Building and Economic Management Project (CBEMP), which provided support and assistance in this crucial endeavour. She also thanked partners, on behalf of President Jammeh and the government.

For his part, Mousa Gibril Bala-Gaye, the secretary of state for Finance and Economic Affairs, said the inauguration of the building marks a turning point in the history of Gambian statistics. SoS Gaye buttressed that the GBoS office complex was funded by the government of The Gambia, under the CBEMP.

According to the SoS, the government's commitment to the development of the country's statistics is again manifested by the annual increase in the allocation of funds to the bureau, noting that African countries are also transforming their statistical services into semi-autonomous agencies by operationalising the new paradigm of National Statistical Development System, in which The Gambia is actively engaged.
SoS Gaye thanked the UN agencies, ADB, Ecowas, AU and UNECA for their invaluable support to the country's statistical development.

Other speakers at the ceremony included Alieu Ndow, the statistician general of the bureau, Morlai Gibril, the chairman of the Board of Governors of GBoS and Fatou Leigh, the project manager of CBEMP.
The event was also attended by the speaker of the National Assembly, secretaries of state, dignitaries, and staff of GBoS, among others dignitaries.