Khomas governor Sam Nujoma has urged the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) to prioritise the routine production of region-aligned economic data.
He was speaking at a high-level sensitisation meeting for the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) for the Khomas region, which was organised by the NSA and GIZ in Windhoek on Monday.
“Figures showing what our region produces, in which sectors and what rate it grows would transform how we budget, how we direct investment, and how we make the case for Khomas to investors and development partners,” he said.
According to statistician general Alex Shimuafeni, the NSDS is an internationally recognised framework for transforming the national statistics system (NSS) and ensuring “the right data is given to the right people in the right format and at the right time” to support national and international development.
Nujoma said without data, people cannot measure progress on programmes like Africa Agenda 2063, which require timely, quality and decentralised data for planning, monitoring and reporting.
“Without it, we cannot measure progress, assess service delivery, identify inequality, or design interventions that hold,” the governor said.
He said quality data carries socio-economic realities that demand evidence-based solutions.
“Thousands (of people) arrive here each year in search of work and opportunity, reshaping our settlements, our services, and our labour market faster than any plan drawn in the years in advance can foresee.
“To govern this honestly, we need credible, current data on the things that actually move our region.”
Nujoma said these include population dynamics, employment trends, poverty levels, education outcomes, health indicators, environmental pressures, land use patterns, and economic activities.
He said many institutions within the national statistics system still contend with insufficient funding, limited statistical capacity, fragmented systems, and weak coordination, which all erode the quality of availability of statistics.
The governor’s sentiments were echoed by Windhoek mayor Sakarias Uunona, who says as the capital city and the country’s economic engine, Windhoek understands the importance of variable and timely statistics.
“Cities and regions cannot plan effectively without data. We cannot improve housing delivery, strengthen service provision, respond to unemployment and address poverty, or improve the well-being of our residents without understanding the realities faced by our people,” he says.
The mayor says as the administrative and commercial hub of the country, the Khomas region experiences rapid urbanisation, increasing immigration, growing pressure on infrastructure, and rising demand on socio-economic services.
“Those realities require us to strengthen our system for evidence-based planning. The City of Windhoek strongly believes that quality statistics are the foundation of effective governance.
“When we collect and analyse reliable data, we are able to understand the needs of communities, allocate resources more efficiently, monitor developmental progress, improve transparency and accountability, and ensure that no one is left behind,” he says.
Shimuafeni says the growing demand for data requires a coordinated, well-functioning statistical system.
“This is because statistics are produced not by a single institution, but by a collective of producers in the NSS, including the ministries, agencies, local authorities, regional councils, state-owned enterprises, the private sector, academia, and civil society organisations,” he says.
While calling for collaboration, he emphasises that the NSA is the only agency mandated to collect data and disseminate official data in the country.
He says the success of the NSDS will depend on the active participation of all stakeholders to raise awareness of its objectives, expected outcomes, and ways stakeholders can contribute to its successful implementation.
– matthew@namibian.com.na
