Regional integration 472. Nigeria has signed and ratified most of the standards and codes for regional integration. These include the Abuja Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (1991), the Constitutive Act of the AU (2000), the NEPAD Framework Document (2001) and the other treaties, conventions and protocols for regional economic communities. Nigeria was one of the 14 West African nations that signed the Treaty Establishing ECOWAS in May 1975 in Lagos, and one of the seven that ratified the treaty in June 1975. Nigeria has signed and continues to honour treaties, conventions and all the protocols to eliminate trade barriers within the ECOWAS subregion and to promote regional economic communities in Africa. General data standards 150 473. The adequacy and reliability of macroeconomic statistics continue to be suspect. There are mix-ups and discrepancies in released data. Nigeria subscribes to the General Data Dissemination System of the IMF, and to the UN’s Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. However, the IMF, in its assessment of Nigeria’s national accounts statistics in the Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), highlighted a serious deterioration in data quality. This made it necessary to revamp the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to ensure that statistical data in the country is better managed. Issues of capacity building, funding and infrastructure development are currently being addressed through the revamping exercise. iii. Recommendations 474. The APR Panel recommends that: • A detailed principle-by-principle or article-by-article assessment of compliance with each EGM standard and code be undertaken for a better understanding of the extent of ratification, implementation and compliance. (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance and National Assembly) • All pertinent standards and codes that are not signed, ratified or domesticated be signed, ratified and domesticated urgently to allow the country to derive the benefits that accrue from doing so. (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance and National Assembly) • The ratification and domestication processes for the standards and codes be simplified. As part of this endeavour, the process should be fast-tracked by the National Assembly. (Ministry of Justice and National Assembly) • The standards and codes be popularised through public discussions between stakeholders. [Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, National Assembly, state governments and civil society organisations (CSOs)]