Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan, gave the charge at Ijebu-Ode, during the opening ceremony of an 11-day workshop, with the theme, "Estimation of Demographic Dividend Profile in Ogun State: Building Evidence and Capacity for Demographic Dividend in Ogun State", organised by his Ministry, in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Nigeria.
Mr. Olabimtan, represented by the Statistician-General, Mr. Babatunde Ajayi, emphasised the importance of population data analysis in driving long-term economic growth through impactful policies, quality decision-making enhanced by informed trend analysis, and formulation of actionable strategies to unlock new opportunities for growth.
"Utilising the dynamics of our youthful and vibrant population holds an immense potential for the socio-economic growth of the state, which would translate to improved quality of life for the citizenry", he said.
In her remarks, representative of UNFPA Country Office in Nigeria, Mrs. Jaiyeola Ayanbadejo, stated that harnessing demographic dividend was essential to informing and implementing quality policy designs, saying the outcome of the workshop would help them demonstrate the importance and relevance of the thematic areas of the agency's three transformative goals, which are zero unmet needs for family planning, zero preventable maternal death and zero gender-based violence, for improved and impactful intervention.
Also speaking, Director, Health Policy Training and Research Programme, University of Ibadan, Prof. Olanrewaju Olaniran, noted that the present estimation exercise aimed to build upon the Demographic Dividend Roadmap, established at an earlier workshop in 2020, saying the goal was to use data to determine how to maximize the population within the working age gap for overall development of the state.
Contributing, Director for Development Partner Coordination Department, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Mrs. Funmilola Tade, urged participants to be fully committed to the process, as contributors to the development of the state, saying each representative of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, was carefully selected to be able to deliver the needed expertise to the process.
Appreciating the organisers on behalf of the participants, Mr. Azeez Tijani from Ministry of Justice, noted that data collection and analysis process was important for any government committed to socio-economic change, being exemplified by the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led administration.
