Nigeria launches first country-wide data portal NMIS for MDGs

The office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Nigerian President on Millennium Development Goals (OSSAP-MDGs) has launched the Nigeria Millennium Development Goals Information System (NMIS),  which it said is Nigeria’s First country-wide data portal, for access to data on education, health and water.

The NMIS platform captures baseline data on more than 260, 000 public and private health and education facilities in Local Government Areas across Nigeria, in addition to water facilities constructed within both facilities.

An official said: “Using the map feature, a user can locate and view a description of facilities, indicating the services offered, the management structure and the capacity in terms of available human resources. For example users are able to view primary schools and hospitals in their villages including their mother’s primary school.”The NMIS provides baseline data on areas of health, education and water, which offers an excellent opportunity to a new government to measure the change they plan to bring about as they plan for development.  With the current burden on states resulting from the fiscal crunch, there is now an overwhelming need for states to identify and focus on priority areas.”Also as MDGs transitions to SDGs and the emphasis on a data revolution, the NMIS can be a useful medium to support data requirement for planning the SDGs.

“States can use the baseline data as a basis for developing their state plans and medium term sector strategies (MTSS) which can be monitored to ascertain progress made per time.

“For example, a planning officer in the ministry of health in Enugu state trying to identify projects for inclusion in the sector’s MTSS can download data from the NMIS to run the analysis below. At a glance the officer is able to identify LGAs with the highest need for emergency transport and is able to allocate resources accordingly. This also helps to reduce waste by preventing project duplication.”

Users can download data here and it would be of benefit to students at all levels.