The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for the global statistical community. During times of crisis, the world needed to digitalise quickly, make rapid decisions and collect new types of data to battle the disease. But how to maintain integrity and trust in data when decision-makers need to react fast? These questions and more were discussed at the United Nations World Data Forum 2021 on the 3-6 October in Switzerland.

At the World Statistics Congress (WSC), Queen Máxima of the Netherlands stated in her welcoming message that “statistics provide evidence that guide decisions and it has been data and statistics that have informed health authorities, governments, and citizens through this global crisis”. Indeed, the current COVID-19 pandemic raises important questions in terms of collecting, sharing, and using data, and highlights the challenges associated with the production of official statistics. Hence, it seems fitting that during this biggest event of the year, the statistical community comes together to reflect on some of the lessons learned from the pandemic.

With a vast number of mobile connections, Nigeria is ready to tap into big data analytics to support decision-making. Signifying their dedication, the Nigerian National Technical Working Group was inaugurated on 8 May, 2019 to explore the applicability of big data solutions to overcome the country's societal challenges. 

Bernard Ewah is the President of Keoun Technologies Limited and the Programme Consultant for the National Technical Working Group in Nigeria. We had an interesting discussion with him about the current state of big data in Nigeria. Could mobile positioning data offer the unique opportunity Nigeria needs?