Statistics will boost economic growth – Official
Statistics
By Cecilia Ologunagba
Abuja, May 20, 2018 (NAN) An official of the Nigerian Statistical Association (NSA), Mr Christopher Okafor, says the association has initiated a programme to bring statistics to the fore and contribute to the growth of the economy.
Okafor, the Former President of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the association would start by supporting educational institutions offering statistics as a course.
The official said as part of the initiative, the association organised its maiden statistics competition for 40 final year students from 20 tertiary institutions across the country from May 14 to 18.
Okafor, who was the Chairman of the competition, said 20 Institutions – eight polytechnics and 12 universities- participated in the programme, each with three members.
“Each institution fielded two competitors with a coach, making a total of 40 students.
“The competition involved two sets of examination in the theory of probability for five hours each, taken in two days.
“This is a starting point for tertiary institutions, it is supposed to be an annual event but it requires some funding. It has started now and it will continue.
“The competition was held to promote excellence among the students,’’ he said.
According to him, 20 participants won different categories of medals; three gold, seven silver and 10 bronze medals.
“Mr Emmanuel Ugwu emerged overall best out of 40 final year students of statistics, while the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), emerged best institution,”said Okafor.
In addition, he said NSA had been working on ways to restore statistics as a subject in secondary schools.
Meanwhile in a communiqué issued at the end of the competition, the participants recommended that specific areas should be given as syllabus in future competitions.
They observed that the area of study which was probability theory was vast and was not properly defined to take cognisance of differences in curricular of the polytechnic and university.
“Questions taken on day 1 and 2 were limited to same core themes for example; questions number two and eight for day 1 and 2 respectively.
“Thus, narrowed knowledge to those who did well in the first paper.
“For a National competition of these nature, the absence of corporate bodies was worrisome,’’ the participants noted.
They, however, thanked NSA for initiating such a loadable programme and also called for improvement in publicity in the subsequent competitions.
The NSA was founded in 1976 as a non-profit making professional body comprising Statisticians, Economists, Planners, Demographers, Analysts and corporate organisations with interest in Statistics.
The Association engages in generating interest in Statistics, professional development, retraining of users and producers of statistics.
It provides sound information base to enhance policy formulation and strategic planning in the public and private sector of the national economy. (NAN)
CIA/SA
Edited by Salif Atojoko
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