In an effort to enhance research in academia, civil society organizations, and government agencies, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has provided training to another group of academicians, professionals, students, and representatives from the development sector on data analysis in collaboration with Data Analysis STATA Software.
The Center stated that this group of participants, marking the 5th phase of beneficiaries, aims to enhance their research capacities and data management skills for effective policy-making, educational development, and programs.
STATA, a general-purpose statistical software package, is widely used by researchers in various fields for data manipulation, visualization, statistics, and automated reporting.
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the three-day training, CITAD Executive Director Engr. Y.Z Ya’u, represented by Senior Program Officer Malam Isah Garba, explained that the program is aligned with CITAD’s objective to provide advanced data analysis knowledge to academia and other sectors.
He mentioned that the training participants were drawn from academia, civil society organizations (CSOs), and government institutions.
Engr. Ya’u further added that CITAD introduced the training due to the increasing significance of data not only for academic purposes but also for public policies.
“When we announced the initial call for applications for the training, CITAD received over 600 applications within 24 hours. We planned to train 40 people.”
“We had to carefully screen and select the intended participants, which was done in multiple batches. The first, second, third, and fourth batches were successful, and today we are completing the 5th batch with 23 trainees,” Y.Z. noted.
The Executive Director also expressed concern about the lack of accurate data in most government agencies and institutions for their respective areas of focus, emphasizing that the absence of reliable data leads to inaccurate policies and programs.
Participants who spoke at the event, including Hassan Nuhu Wali, a lecturer at Sule Lamido University, Jigawa State, stated that they gained exposure to the utilization of data for evidence-based policies and research purposes using the STATA software.
“It is a valuable opportunity and knowledge to learn the STATA data analysis software,” she added.
Another participant, Magdaline Habiba Musa from the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, mentioned that they were guided through the fundamentals of using STATA for Data Entry, Data Cleansing, and Data Analysis.
“The STATA software enables you to input all your statistical analysis quickly and helps you identify correctly or incorrectly inserted data,” Magdaline added.
Expressing gratitude to CITAD for providing them with the training opportunity, the participants pledged to share their newfound knowledge with their respective organizations and students.
