MONROVIA, LIBERIA – For a country seeking to strengthen governance, improve public service delivery, attract investment, and accelerate economic transformation, reliable statistics are far more than figures compiled in government reports. They are the foundation upon which development priorities are identified, public resources are allocated, national progress is measured, and decisions affecting millions of citizens are made.
It is against this backdrop that the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), under the leadership of Director General Hon. Richard Fatorma Ngafuan, has recorded an important institutional milestone by hosting the ECOWAS Commission’s Leadership and Statistical Management Training for managers of National Statistical Systems from ECOWAS member states and Mauritania.
Held from October 5 to 9, 2026, at the Sinkor Palace Hotel in Monrovia, the five-day regional programme brought together senior statistical managers and representatives of regional institutions to strengthen leadership, improve statistical management, and address the evolving demands of modern data production.
The occasion was particularly notable because, according to the institutional announcement of the achievement, LISGIS had not hosted this particular ECOWAS statistical leadership and management training in 16 years.
For Ngafuan, however, the significance of the gathering extended beyond Liberia’s role as host. His opening remarks placed the event within a larger story of regional partnership, institutional development, and the responsibility of statistical leaders to ensure that the information produced by their institutions serves the needs of the people.
By acknowledging ECOWAS’s longstanding contribution to Liberia’s statistical development while emphasizing the growing importance of leadership, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation, the LISGIS Director General presented a clear message about the direction in which national statistical institutions must move.
His remarks also highlighted a fundamental reality for Liberia. The country’s ability to make informed decisions about its economy, population, food security, education, healthcare, and infrastructure depends substantially on the quality, credibility, and accessibility of the statistics available to policymakers and the public.
The successful hosting of the regional training therefore offers an opportunity to strengthen LISGIS’s institutional profile, deepen cooperation with regional partners, and reinforce the role of reliable data in Liberia’s development.
NGAFUAN’S OPENING MESSAGE RECOGNIZES ECOWAS AS A LONGSTANDING PARTNER
In welcoming the regional delegation, Ngafuan acknowledged the contribution ECOWAS has made to strengthening Liberia’s statistical capacity over the years, particularly through the professional training of LISGIS personnel.
Addressing the ECOWAS representative, senior government officials, heads of national statistical offices, and other participants, the Director General emphasized the importance of regional cooperation in building the technical capabilities of statistical institutions across West Africa.
He observed that ECOWAS had consistently supported the development of statistical professionals through specialized training in areas including national accounts, consumer price and price statistics, explanatory statistics, and various data collection methodologies.
“Many times our staff, our technicians, are trained by various divisions and departments of ECOWAS statistics,” Ngafuan said, recognizing the role the regional institution has played in developing the professional skills required for effective statistical production.
His acknowledgment was significant because it recognized that Liberia’s statistical development has not occurred in isolation. The country’s progress in collecting, processing, and applying official data has been supported by cooperation with regional and international institutions, alongside the work of national professionals and government agencies.
For LISGIS, this partnership has helped strengthen the technical foundation upon which statistical operations are conducted. Such cooperation is particularly important in a country where producing reliable national data requires sustained investment in professional training, field operations, technology, and institutional coordination.
Ngafuan expressed appreciation for the contribution of ECOWAS and other development partners, noting that their support had contributed to improvements in Liberia’s statistical capacity.
“As we are progressing in terms of improving statistical data collection or policy formulation, we can say that you and other international partners have contributed immensely to the improvement of our capacity,” he stated.
The acknowledgment demonstrated an appreciation of institutional progress as a shared undertaking rather than an achievement attributable to one office or individual alone.
It also underscored an important principle of public administration: the strength of a national institution depends partly on its ability to build productive relationships, learn from established practices, and apply knowledge gained through cooperation to its domestic responsibilities.
Under Ngafuan’s leadership, the opportunity now lies in consolidating these relationships and ensuring that the benefits of regional collaboration continue to improve the quality and usefulness of statistics produced for Liberia.
FROM TRAINING TECHNICIANS TO DEVELOPING LEADERS
One of the most important aspects of Ngafuan’s opening remarks was his distinction between the technical training that LISGIS personnel have traditionally received and the leadership training that brought senior statistical managers to Monrovia.
Welcoming the heads of national statistical offices and other senior participants, he described the gathering as an opportunity to move beyond the training of technical personnel and focus directly on those responsible for managing national statistical institutions.
“This time around we ourselves are key participants in terms of this leadership training,” he said.
The observation captures an important institutional challenge. Producing credible statistics requires skilled enumerators, statisticians, economists, researchers, data processors, and geographic information specialists. Yet the effectiveness of their work also depends on the quality of leadership, the allocation of resources, the coordination of departments, and the ability of senior managers to establish clear professional standards.
Statistical leadership is therefore not simply an administrative responsibility. It involves creating an environment in which technical staff can perform their duties effectively, methodological standards are respected, institutional resources are properly managed, and published information remains credible and useful.
For LISGIS, strengthening management capacity can help connect technical expertise with institutional performance. It can support better planning, improve coordination among departments, and encourage the development of statistical products that respond to the needs of government, businesses, researchers, development partners, and the public.
The regional training also created an opportunity for senior managers from different countries to exchange experiences and discuss common challenges facing their institutions.
This kind of engagement is particularly relevant as national statistical systems face increasing demands for timely economic indicators, more detailed population information, improved geographic data, and stronger coordination among government agencies.
Ngafuan’s emphasis on leadership therefore placed the Monrovia gathering within a broader institutional development agenda. Its value will be measured not only by the successful completion of the training but also by how the knowledge acquired contributes to better management and improved statistical services in the participating countries.
For Liberia, that is an important opportunity to strengthen LISGIS from within while reinforcing its participation in regional statistical cooperation.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: THE NEXT FRONTIER
Ngafuan’s remarks also addressed one of the most consequential developments affecting modern statistical institutions: the rapid advancement of digital technologies and artificial intelligence.
He noted that the world was changing rapidly and that statistical production was being affected, positively and negatively, by innovations in artificial intelligence.
“The world is moving fast and statistics is obviously positively or negatively affected by the innovations around artificial intelligence,” he observed.
He challenged national statistical offices to consider how they could accelerate their institutional capabilities and improve the capacity of their staff to harness these technologies.
“What can we do as NSOs in terms of accelerating our own capacities and improving the capacity of our staff to harness and to make use of artificial intelligence innovations that have innovated our statistical space,” he asked.
The question reflects a central challenge facing statistical institutions across Africa and the wider world. Digital technologies are changing how information is collected, processed, analyzed, visualized, and disseminated. Artificial intelligence can assist with certain data-processing tasks, identify patterns in large datasets, support geographic analysis, and make statistical information easier to explore.
For an institution such as LISGIS, these developments create opportunities to improve operational efficiency, strengthen data analysis, and make official statistics more accessible to users.
Digital systems can also support more effective management of field operations, reduce some manual processing requirements, and help statistical professionals identify inconsistencies that require further investigation.
However, Ngafuan’s recognition that technological innovations can affect statistics both positively and negatively is equally important.
Artificial intelligence does not automatically produce accurate information. Its outputs depend on the quality of the underlying data, the methods used, and the safeguards established to prevent errors, bias, and misleading interpretations. Poorly managed digital systems can also expose sensitive information or weaken public confidence if privacy and data security are not adequately protected.
For LISGIS, the challenge is therefore to embrace technological innovation while maintaining professional standards, confidentiality, methodological transparency, and human oversight.
That requires continuous staff development, appropriate digital infrastructure, clear data governance procedures, and sustained investment in the technical capabilities of the institution.
The regional training offered a platform for statistical managers to consider these challenges collectively and explore ways to prepare their institutions for a rapidly changing technological environment.
Ngafuan’s emphasis on artificial intelligence and digital transformation is particularly relevant because Liberia’s development ambitions require a statistical institution capable of producing dependable information in an increasingly digital economy.
The opportunity is to ensure that technological progress strengthens, rather than compromises, the credibility of official statistics.
WHY LISGIS IS CENTRAL TO LIBERIA’S DEVELOPMENT
The significance of the ECOWAS training becomes clearer when considered against the statutory responsibilities of LISGIS and the importance of official statistics to national governance.
Established as an autonomous government agency in 2004 under the National Statistics and Geo-Information Act, LISGIS serves as Liberia’s principal authority for official statistics and geo-information data.
Its mandate covers the collection, analysis, management, and dissemination of statistical information that helps explain the country’s demographic, economic, social, and geographic conditions.
The institute’s responsibilities extend well beyond conducting censuses or publishing statistical reports. Its work provides an essential information base for national development planning, public policy formulation, economic management, research, and the monitoring of development programmes.
A government cannot effectively plan for a population it does not adequately understand. Nor can it reliably measure development progress without dependable information about the conditions that existed before a programme began and the changes that followed its implementation.
This is why LISGIS occupies an important position in Liberia’s public administration.
When government considers expanding schools, constructing hospitals, improving roads, extending electricity, or providing safe drinking water, reliable population and geographic information can help identify where services are needed and how many people may benefit.
When policymakers assess the cost of living, economic growth, agricultural production, employment-related indicators, or household conditions, official statistics provide an essential basis for understanding the challenges facing citizens and the economy.
The importance of LISGIS is also evident in the national budget process. Decisions about public expenditure become more effective when they are informed by credible information about population distribution, economic conditions, service gaps, and development priorities.
Statistics cannot determine every policy choice, but they can help decision-makers understand the circumstances in which those choices must be made.
LISGIS’s official mandate and statistical resources are available through its institutional website.
For Ngafuan, the responsibility of leading such an institution carries implications that reach far beyond the management of a government agency. It involves helping ensure that Liberia has the information required to understand its development challenges and evaluate the results of public interventions.
The ECOWAS training is therefore relevant not only to LISGIS personnel but also to the wider national development process.
COUNTING LIBERIANS AND MAKING COMMUNITIES VISIBLE
One of LISGIS’s most important responsibilities is conducting the National Population and Housing Census, which provides official information about the size, distribution, and characteristics of the population and the housing conditions of households across the country.
Liberia’s 2022 census was the fifth national population and housing census, following the exercises conducted in 1962, 1974, 1984, and 2008. It was also the country’s first fully digital population census, using computer-assisted personal interviewing technology to collect information electronically.
The exercise illustrates the relationship between statistical capacity, technology, and national development.
Population information helps government understand where people live, how communities are changing, and what services may be required to meet their needs.
For example, reliable demographic and geographic data can assist education planners in identifying areas where school-age populations are concentrated. Health planners can use population information to assess service needs and determine where additional facilities may be required. Infrastructure planners can draw on geographic and demographic data when assessing roads, water systems, electricity, and other essential services.
Census information can also support analysis of migration, urbanization, employment, education, housing conditions, and population projections.
These issues are particularly relevant to Liberia, where differences in infrastructure, access to public services, and economic opportunities across counties and communities require careful planning.
Without reliable population information, public investment risks being based on incomplete assumptions about the number of people who need services or the locations where interventions would have the greatest effect.
The census therefore serves as more than a counting exercise. It provides an important statistical foundation for inclusive development and helps make communities visible in national planning.
LISGIS’s official census portal provides access to census publications and related resources.
Strengthening the institution’s technical and managerial capacity is essential to ensuring that census information continues to inform national priorities and that future statistical exercises meet professional standards.
FOOD SECURITY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ECOWAS REPORT
Another important element of Ngafuan’s opening remarks was his reference to a report prepared with ECOWAS statistical support, which he said would be launched by the Acting Deputy Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Henry Zampouwe.
He noted that the report would address food security and other important statistical information that policymakers could use to transform the country.
Although he did not discuss the report’s detailed findings, his reference to food security highlighted the direct connection between statistical production and one of Liberia’s most pressing development concerns.
Food security is not simply a matter of whether food is available in markets. It also involves whether households can afford nutritious food, whether supplies remain accessible throughout the year, how agricultural production performs, and how vulnerable communities respond to economic and environmental pressures.
Reliable agricultural, economic, demographic, and household data can help policymakers examine these questions and develop more targeted interventions.
Agricultural statistics can provide information about farming households, production patterns, and other conditions affecting the sector. Household data can help explain living conditions and economic vulnerability. Price statistics can help reveal changes in the cost of food and other essential goods.
When these sources of information are properly coordinated and analyzed, they can support better decisions about agricultural investment, food production, rural development, social protection, and the allocation of public resources.
For Liberia, where agriculture and rural livelihoods remain important to economic development, the availability of reliable information is essential to understanding the challenges facing farmers and consumers.
Ngafuan’s reference to the ECOWAS-supported report therefore connected the regional training to a practical national priority.
The value of such reports ultimately depends on whether their findings are accessible, understood, and applied by the institutions responsible for designing and implementing public policies.
That is where statistical leadership becomes particularly important. Producing a report is one stage of the process; ensuring that its findings inform decisions is another.
LISGIS has an opportunity to strengthen the connection between statistical evidence and policy action by continuing to work with relevant ministries, regional institutions, and development partners.
STATISTICS, PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY, AND TRUST
Reliable official statistics also contribute to transparency and public accountability.
When government institutions publish credible information about economic performance, population conditions, public service needs, and development indicators, citizens gain a stronger basis for understanding national conditions and assessing policy outcomes.
Journalists can use such information to investigate public issues and explain developments affecting communities. Researchers can examine social and economic trends. Businesses can use statistical indicators to inform investment decisions. Development partners can assess programme results and identify areas requiring further support.
This makes the credibility of LISGIS especially important.
The public must have confidence that official statistics are produced through sound methods, that their limitations are communicated honestly, and that the information is disseminated according to professional standards.
Institutional credibility is built over time through consistent performance, technical integrity, transparency, and public access to information.
Strong leadership can support these objectives by establishing clear standards, investing in professional development, strengthening internal accountability, and ensuring that institutional decisions serve the public interest.
For Ngafuan, the ECOWAS training provides an opportunity to reinforce these principles while building on the professional relationships and technical cooperation that have supported LISGIS over the years.
The lasting measure of the institution’s progress will be its ability to deliver accurate, timely, accessible, and useful statistical information that supports better decisions across government and society.
A REGIONAL ACHIEVEMENT WITH NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
The October 5–9 training also carried significance for Liberia’s relationship with ECOWAS and the wider West African statistical community.
By welcoming senior statistical managers from across the region and Mauritania, Monrovia became a meeting point for discussions about the future of national statistical systems.
Regional cooperation is important because countries face many similar challenges, including the need to modernize data collection, improve statistical management, strengthen professional expertise, and make information more useful to policymakers.
Exchanges among national statistical institutions can create opportunities to share experience, discuss technical standards, and identify approaches that may be adapted to different national circumstances.
The ECOWAS Commission has also supported statistical capacity development through regional initiatives, including the Harmonisation and Improvement of Statistics in West and Central Africa project.
For Liberia, hosting the training creates an opportunity to strengthen professional relationships and reinforce LISGIS’s participation in regional statistical cooperation.
It also demonstrates the value of sustained engagement with regional institutions whose technical assistance can complement domestic investment in statistical capacity.
Nevertheless, the hosting of a regional training should be viewed as a foundation for further institutional development rather than evidence that every challenge facing LISGIS has been resolved.
Continued progress will require adequate resources, skilled personnel, effective management, appropriate technology, and sustained cooperation with the institutions that produce and use national data.
The opportunity before Ngafuan and his team is to translate the recognition associated with the event into practical improvements that benefit Liberia.
THE TASK AHEAD FOR NGAFUAN AND HIS TEAM
The successful completion of the ECOWAS programme gives LISGIS an important opportunity to consolidate its institutional progress.
The next phase should focus on applying the lessons from the training to the everyday responsibilities of the institute, including improving statistical production, strengthening data quality, expanding digital capabilities, and making official information more accessible.
Staff development will remain essential, particularly as statistical methods and technologies continue to change. Investment in digital infrastructure must also be accompanied by safeguards that protect the confidentiality and integrity of information.
Coordination with ministries, agencies, and other data-producing institutions is equally important. A strong national statistical system depends on the ability of different institutions to work with consistent standards and share relevant information responsibly.
Public communication should also remain a priority. Statistical information has limited value when it is difficult for policymakers, journalists, researchers, businesses, or ordinary citizens to locate and understand.
By strengthening the accessibility and practical application of its publications, LISGIS can help ensure that reliable information contributes more directly to national development discussions.
These priorities require sustained institutional commitment rather than a single training programme. They also require continued cooperation between LISGIS, the Government of Liberia, ECOWAS, development partners, and other stakeholders.
Ngafuan’s recognition of ECOWAS’s longstanding support provides an important starting point for this work. His emphasis on leadership and emerging technologies identifies areas where further investment and institutional attention can help prepare LISGIS for future demands.
A MILESTONE THAT MUST TRANSLATE INTO LASTING IMPACT
The hosting of the ECOWAS Leadership and Statistical Management Training represents a notable achievement for LISGIS and an opportunity for Liberia to strengthen its place in regional statistical cooperation.
In his opening remarks, Director General Richard Fatorma Ngafuan recognized the contribution of ECOWAS to Liberia’s statistical development, welcomed the participation of senior regional managers, and emphasized the need for stronger leadership and greater readiness to harness digital transformation and artificial intelligence.
His remarks connected the event to the larger responsibility of national statistical institutions to produce information that serves the needs of their people.
For LISGIS, the programme provides an opportunity to build on existing technical capacity, strengthen management practices, and deepen collaboration with regional partners.
For Liberia, a stronger statistical institution can support better planning in education, healthcare, agriculture, food security, infrastructure, economic management, and public service delivery.
For citizens, reliable statistics can help make national conditions more visible and provide a firmer basis for understanding whether development programmes are responding to their needs.
The significance of this milestone therefore lies not simply in the fact that Liberia hosted a regional gathering after a 16-year interval. It lies in the opportunity to convert regional cooperation into lasting institutional improvements and more effective use of evidence in national decision-making.
Statistics are about people, communities, livelihoods, opportunities, and the challenges that governments must address. Their value is realized when accurate information informs decisions that improve lives.
As LISGIS moves forward under Ngafuan’s leadership, the central task is to ensure that the lessons of the Monrovia training strengthen the institution’s capacity to produce credible information, support sound policymaking, and contribute to a development process in which every community is better represented and every major decision is better informed.
That is the enduring promise of stronger statistical leadership, and it is the opportunity that this ECOWAS milestone presents for LISGIS and Liberia.
See more Liberia News Network stories in Google Search by adding LNN as one of your Preferred Sources.
★ Add LNN as a Preferred Source