A Professor of Statistics at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, Barnabas Adebola has urged governments at all levels to encourage , advocate and carry out regular and proper data gathering for proper planning and benefits of society. Adebola ,who also recommended training of more statisticians in the country to ensure data integrity and sanctity, gave the advice while delivering the 181st inaugural lecture of the institution on Tuesday June 17th, 2025.
Adebola who titled his lecture , “Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen: Understanding the Hide and Seek Game, ‘ said the importance of quality data gathering using statistical method in attaining precision and enhancing planning cannot be overstated as it’s critical to proper planning and focused developments in all sectors and the country at large. According to him ,to fast-track return to systemic quality data gathering , “There should be enabling laws to bring about strong collaborations between government , nongovernmental organizations , and universities in the area of quality and unbiased data gathering and usage.”
The lecturer also called on Government to establish regional laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that will be used for quality data collection , presentation , analyses and interpretation for decision making. According to him ,“it is important to keep quality records of past and present events in the life of an individual or a corporate body because these records might be the basis for forecasting the future.”
Defining Statistics with its historical antecedent, Adebola said “Statistics is a word derived from the Latin word ‘Status’ which means a group of numbers or figures that represent some information on human interest. We find the use of statistics in everyday life, such as in books or other information papers, television or newspapers. Although, in the early decades, statistics was used by kings only for collecting information about states and other information that was required about their people, including their number, revenue of the state etc. In a broader parlance, Statistics is the science that deals with developing and studying methods for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and presenting empirical data. Statistics is the art and science of transforming data into usable information and eventually relevant knowledge to improve organizational decision making.”
Dwelling on the relationship between statistics and data, especially in the area of sampling, the don said “Statistics is about data. Statistics and data are two distinct quantities. Data can exist without statistics being computed, but statistics must have data to be computed.” To justify that truly many are called, but few are chosen (reflecting sampling), he said “sampling is a scientific method of choosing and using a representative part (sample), of a whole (population) to seek the truth about the whole. Sampling is being put into use extensively, consciously or unconsciously, in everyday life to obtain the required information or to carry out a course of action. For example, a chef uses a little quantity of soup from a pot to ascertain the sweetness of the entire pot of soup. A medical laboratory scientist, by using a few milliliters of a patient’s blood sample obtains the quantity of typhoid or malaria parasites in the blood system. The first step in good sample design is to ensure that the specification of the target population is as clear and complete as possible, ensuring that all elements within the population are represented.”
Stressing the importance of Statistics to the populace, Professor Adebola recommended having a knowledge of the subject matter, especially to the younger generation. He said “I am recommending that every young people should endeavour to learn something about statistics as soon as they can. Dismissing this advice due to ignorance or because it calls for thought may have phenomenal consequence in the nearest future.”
And to the older generation he said “ Make it a point of duty for those under your tutelage and training to look into this subject matter. Whosoever you are, if your work calls for interpretations of data, you may be able to do without statistics but you will not do so well for lack of basic technicalities.”
He said ratio estimation derived from statistics has gained relevance in estimation theory because of its improved precision in estimating the population parameters. “ It has been widely applied in branches of agriculture to estimate the mean yield of crops in certain areas and to estimate with high precision, the mean number of trees or crops in a forest or plantation. Other areas of relevance include economics and population studies to estimate the ration of income to family size,” Adebola , a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (FRSS), UK; Member, Chartered Institute of Statistician of Nigeria (CISON); and Member, International Statistical Institute (MISI) ,concluded.
In her opening remarks as the Chairman at the lecture, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Adenike Oladiji described Professor Adebola as a great scholar in his field who has made the University proud in teaching, training and research activities. She said his intellectual acumen is not in dispute as it has yielded in producing younger generations of statistician who are doing well in their different ports of call. She added that the lecture, well written and well delivered, is to further reveal the importance of statistics and data gathering and its relevance to planning and society.
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