Mimiko rated high in addressing maternal mortality

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State

The Ondo State Bureau of Statistics has rated the outgoing Governor of the state, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, high in addressing maternal mortality in the past eight years.

The State`s Statistician General, Mr. Dayo Aregbesola, gave the rating in Abuja on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He stated the rating was the product of the agency’s publication on the achievements of the outgoing state administration.

Aregbesola said that the bureau looked into the various activities of government and came up with indicators in 10 thematic areas.

The statistician general said that indicators in the areas specified what the situation was when the administration came on board and the present situation now.

“We have seen considerable improvement; when you talk about the health sector, maternal mortality was extremely bad when this government came on board.

“I think it was about 575 deaths per 1,000 births but now it has gone down to about 74 deaths per 1,000 births, which is a major achievement of this administration.

“We looked at the performance of students at external examinations such as WAEC and NECO and we discovered it is tremendous.

“When the government came, we had 19 percent performance but this year, we had 61 percent so these are major landmarks we can see the government has done well,” he said.

In addition, he said that the administration also achieved a lot in the area of construction of buildings.

He said that the bureau saw so many buildings, filling stations and hotels coming up during the administration.

“When the government came on board, the state capital had about 19 hotels, this time around we have about 80 hotels,” Aregbesola said.

Meanwhile, he said that the administration did not do well in the area of construction of rural roads.

The official said that the bureau looked at the total kilometers of rural road reconstructed or rehabilitated in the period.

“The area needs much attention to boost development in the state,” he said.

Aregbesola, however, told NAN that the greatest challenge of the bureau was the inability of people to appreciate statistics.

“Our people don’t appreciate statistics, when you send a questionnaire to any agency, even the elites, you have to make several calls before you get it back.

“Statistical culture needs to be built in the people so that the agency can render data services to whoever needs it.

“We also need to bring more statisticians, more professionals to the agency so that the performance of data gathering and processing could be enhanced,” he said.