YABATECH DON CALLS FG TO USE DATA AND STATISTICS TO SOLVE NATIONAL PROBLEMS

YABATECH DON CALLS FG TO USE DATA AND STATISTICS TO SOLVE NATIONAL PROBLEMS

• By Admin
• COLLEGE
• Jul 11, 2025 02:25 pm

A chief lecturer in the Department of Statistics, Yaba College of Technology, Dr. Olusesan Olufolabo, has called on federal government and other government agencies in Nigeria to make better use of statistics and data to surmount its major challenges, more especially in the areas of health, education, and national planning.

Speaking in a paper, he presented as the 18th Inaugural Lecturer of the college, titled: “Unlocking Insights: The Power of Statistics in Today’s Data-Driven World” at the Yusuf Grillo Auditorium, explained how using statistics properly can help improve the lives of Nigerians and guide government policies.

In his research, which involved data from over 8,000 women aged 15 to 49 in Nigeria, Dr Olufolabo found that infant deaths were more common among children of uneducated mothers and those who lived in rural areas while babies who stopped breastfeeding early had a higher chance of dying within their first year. The finding, he said, through statistics led to the policy on exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months in the world; he said.

He relayed that decisions made without proper data are often ineffective and as such advocated that schools, research centres, and government agencies should include statisticians in their planning and research teams from the start.

Dr. Olufolabo postulated that by transforming raw data into meaningful knowledge, statistics empowers us to address global challenges, innovate across industries and improve the quality of life in general.

He explained that choosing a statistical technique or tool to use in statistics has become a major problem especially to individuals not well grounded in the field of statistics, and it is important to state that users of statistics need to keep abreast with quite a number of facts in order to correctly decide what statistical technique to use for a particular data in terms of analysis.

According to him, “Statistics is now a cornerstone of scientific inquiry, enabling researchers to test hypotheses, validate theories, and draw conclusions. Fields such as medicine, engineering, climate science, and social science rely heavily on statistical analysis to understand phenomena, design experiments, and evaluate interventions. From developing life-saving drugs to studying the impact of climate change, statistics stands as a key driver of innovation and progress”.

The chief lecturer disclosed that statistics is highly relevant in all facets of life and no meaningful planning can be done without statistics, hence, there is need to embrace statistics in all professions.

“It is a statement of fact that scientific results are only validated and considered useful when statistical techniques are applied appropriately, therefore the inclusion of statistician should be made in all observational and experimental studies right from the planning stage”; he affirmed.

He stated that today’s good decisions in all aspects of our lives are driven by data, chief executives of both public and private establishments, clinicians, business managers, engineers and all professionals are increasingly required to justify decisions based on empirical quality data, and statistics provides guidance in evidence-based decision making and policy formulation.

“Always remember that you can easily lie with statistics but you can never and never say the truth without statistics, therefore, statistics is life and life is statistics”; he declared.

The rector of the institution, Dr. Engr. Ibraheem Abdul, who also was the chairman of the lecture, in his closing remarks said that Dr. Olufolabo has been able to establish that everybody is a user of statistics in one way or the other.

He said; “the inaugural lecturer of today carried out a study which provided an assessment of the relative importance of factors associated with neonatal and post-neonatal mortality in Nigeria. The study established the association and health infant mortality and some major demographic and socioeconomic and health care variables”.

Dr. Abdul stressed that, the study disclosed that high infant mortality is experienced by children born to mothers who are uneducated and live in the rural areas and that breastfeeding was one of the important correlates of mortality while cessation of breastfeeding increased the risk of mortality significantly during the first year of life.

He pointed that the National Policy and Advocacy on exclusive breastfeeding for first six months of life of a child was made from the study carried out by the lecturer, propagated and sponsored by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and culminated into a policy formulated that women should henceforth proceed on six months maternity leave after child birth, a kudos to the research of Dr. Olufolabo.

Dr. Abdul hinted that the inaugural lecturer counseled the College to have a Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis (LISA) in the Department of Statistics similar to what exists in most tertiary institutions within and outside the country, and the laboratory will provide a meeting point among researchers for meaningful interactions on statistical advice.

The rector submits, “ladies and gentlemen, you will agree with me that the Lecturer of today has done justice to the topic, and he has actually delivered and so I want to discharge and acquit him for presenting today’s inaugural lecture to the best of his ability, and I hereby present him the certificate of discharge in recognition of his outstanding performance and successful presentation of the 18^th Inaugural lecture.

 

 

 

 

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