A Professor of Statistics at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, Barnabas Adebola, has urged governments at all levels to encourage, advocate for, and carry out regular and proper data gathering for the benefit of society and adequate planning.
Adebola, who also recommended training more statisticians in the country to ensure data integrity and sanctity, advised during the 181st inaugural lecture of the institution on Tuesday, June 17, 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 methods 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 organisations, and universities in the area of quality and unbiased data gathering and usage.”
The lecturer also called on the Government to establish regional laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that will be used for collecting, presenting, analysing, and interpreting quality data for informed 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 encounter the use of statistics in everyday life, such as in books, other informational papers, television, or newspapers. Although in the early decades, statistics were used by kings primarily for collecting information about the state and other data required about their people, including their population, state revenue, etc. In a broader sense, Statistics is the science that deals with developing and studying methods for collecting, analysing, interpreting, and presenting empirical data. Statistics is the art and science of transforming data into usable information and eventually relevant knowledge to improve organisational 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 used extensively, whether 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 small quantity of soup from a pot to ascertain the sweetness of the entire pot of soup. A medical laboratory scientist, using a few millilitres of a patient’s blood sample, determines the quantity of typhoid or malaria parasites in the bloodstream. 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 that the younger generation acquire a knowledge of the subject matter. He said, “I am recommending that every young person 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 consequences in the near future.”
Moreover, 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 that ratio estimation, derived from statistics, has gained relevance in estimation theory due to its improved precision in estimating 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 ratio of income to family size.” Adebola, a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (FRSS), UK; Member, Chartered Institute of Statisticians of Nigeria (CISON); and Member, International Statistical Institute (ISI), 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 through his teaching, training, and research activities. She said his intellectual acumen is not in dispute, as it has yielded in producing younger generations of statisticians who are doing well in their various fields. She added that the lecture, well-written and well-delivered, aims to reveal further the importance of statistics and data gathering, as well as their relevance to planning and society.
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