Lugoloobi Calls for Data-Driven Governance to Improve Service Delivery

What the report says

Uganda’s Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Amos Lugoloobi, has urged ministries, departments and agencies to strengthen their statistical systems and rely more heavily on evidence-based decision-making. Speaking at the launch of the 2026 Africa Statistics Week, he argued that accurate data is vital for national planning, accountability and public service delivery, and said government cannot effectively allocate resources without reliable information.

Lugoloobi said weak data systems can distort policy choices, pointing to education as an example where enrolment figures are needed to guide staffing, classroom space and related infrastructure needs. He said Uganda has previously struggled with data gaps in the development planning process, but noted that progress has been made through the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the wider National Statistical System.

He also called for the restoration of functional statistics units across government institutions and warned that insufficient technical capacity can undermine the quality of information used for policy and budgeting. In addition, he encouraged public bodies to adopt modern tools such as artificial intelligence and big data analytics, while ensuring that collected statistics are actually used in programme monitoring and public planning.

The remarks highlight a broader governance issue in Uganda and elsewhere: the need for credible, accessible statistics to support public accountability and development decisions. The Nile Post report presents Lugoloobi’s comments as a push for stronger institutional data use rather than a new policy announcement.