Edo State’s commitment to becoming Africa’s largest District Health Information Services (DHIS2) proficient community was enhanced within the week as the Edo State Data Champions’ Recognition Event celebrated the strides made in data management and governance across the state.
Within the week, the Edo State Digital Governance and Data Management Agency (EdoDiDA) certified over 200 data champions in Data Management, Analytics, and Visualization on the DHIS2 Data Management platform across over 35 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.
The event, under the chairmanship of Dr Anthony Okungbowa, the state Head of Service, who also served as the chief host, and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and with technical delivery from Data Science Nigeria, brought together MDA heads and leadership who have been instrumental in advancing a data-driven culture in their respective agencies.
In his speech, Dr Okungbowa (Esq), said, “I thank the Executive Governor of Edo state, His Excellency Mr Godwin Obaseki for his idea and setting up the Digital and Data Agency; our partners – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the man in charge of the Digital Agency – Mr Osa Bazuaye and the entire team.
“Governance in Edo today now relies on data. The Governor’s intent in setting up the Agency is to be enabled to mine and analyze data for insights to advise the government on next steps. Today witnesses a milestone achievement in the training and certification of over 200 public servants across MDAs on how to analyze and apply data for decision making. With this, Edo State will continue to lead in evidence-based public service where actions are no longer based on uncertainty but on data insights”.
According to Mr. Osa Bazuaye, Managing Director, EdoDiDA, the event underscored Edo State’s commitment to becoming Africa’s largest DHIS2 proficient community.
Addressing the media shortly after the event, Mr Bazuaye said the agency is recognizing civil service data champions in the last one year since it was created based on the landscape assessment support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki initiated the creation of the digital governance and data management agency within this one year. Our mandate is to put together a government portal to enable digital reporting, which enables us to monitor activities that happen in various MDAs
“Edo State has the highest number of DHIS certified professionals globally and we take a stand in leading in the digital transformation and we are very proud of what has happened. That is why we recognize the digital champions, and based on that recognition, we had a very good event today, everyone is happy and we are looking forward to greater things to come from EdoDiDA”, he said.
Also speaking, the leam lead and delivery coordinator for EdoDIDA Project, Uyi Briggs, said the event was designed to recognize the data champions from the state who are supporting and aiding the utilization of data, and the essence of the programme is for decision making and for data generation in Edo State.
“Data Champions are members of the Edo State Public Service across all the 86-plus units of government. Over 360 data champions have been trained so far, and over 200 of the 360-plus trained are DHIS2 certified. This is the first half that aids transformation and analysis of data for decision making, and this is how the state is transforming governance. Governance is now data driven and more citizen inclusive, which takes into account the needs and desires of the citizens so that strategic allocation of resources will depend on data as well”, Briggs said.
One of the recognised champions, Okonomor Faith Ikhoria from Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), appreciated Governor Obaseki for the initiative, saying the training has impacted her a lot.
The user-friendly interface, flexibility, data collection, analysis, and data visualization capability of DHIS2 have made it accessible to a wide range of use cases, fostering a culture of data transparency and accountability in the MDA dataset. Edo State’s proactive adoption of data analytics tools has positioned it as a leader in using technology to enhance governance and service delivery.
