The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through its Statistics Department, has intensified efforts to strengthen the country’s economic data architecture by digitalising the Sub-National Fiscal Survey across the 36 States, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) nationwide. The initiative aims to replace the largely manual reporting process and improve the timeliness, accuracy, consistency and precision of fiscal data for monetary, fiscal and broader economic policy decisions.
Speaking at the Sub-national Fiscal Statistics Stakeholders’ engagement held recently in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the Director, Statistics Department, Dr Usman Moses Okpanachi, said the initiative aimed to strengthen the information chain linking fiscal transactions in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Local Governments to evidence-based policy making. Dr. Okpanachi explained that reliable fiscal statistics were critical to sound economic management, enabling governments to assess revenue performance, expenditure patterns, financing needs and fiscal pressures, and providing policymakers with a clearer picture of public-sector activity and its implications for aggregate demand, liquidity, borrowing conditions and inflation.
He said timely, reliable data had become increasingly important as the CBN strengthened its forward-looking, data-dependent monetary policy framework and moved towards a more explicit inflation-targeting regime, noting that the largely manual, twice-yearly Sub-National Fiscal Survey faced challenges with timeliness, logistics, validation, and processing. According to him, the digitalisation initiative would address these constraints by standardising data entry, improving validation, simplifying submissions, enabling better monitoring and traceable corrections, and supporting the transition to more frequent and sustainable quarterly rendition of returns.
Dr. Okpanachi emphasised that technology would complement, rather than replace, sound record-keeping, proper reconciliation and professional judgement. He urged States and Local Governments to anchor implementation in timeliness, integrity and continuity by ensuring prompt submission, proper validation and reconciliation of data, and the appointment of designated focal officers to ensure institutional continuity. He noted that the initiative’s success would ultimately be measured by more complete and consistent returns, faster submissions, improved validation, and better fiscal information for decision-making. He assured stakeholders of the Bank’s continued technical and operational support through its Branches and the Statistics Department.
The nationwide engagement, which commenced on October 26, 2026, is expected to cover the remaining States by December 4, with the FCT scheduled for December 9 and 10. The practical sessions would enable State and Local Government fiscal officers to use the digital questionnaire, understand validation requirements, and practise submission and correction procedures. As of November 6, 2026, 16 States and their Local Governments had been covered, with strong government support and attendance reaching 100 per cent in almost all the States visited.
