On Tuesday 17 March 2020, the RSS Nigeria local group gave a talk on 'Sensitization and awareness of the importance of studying statistics and mathematics' to secondary school students at the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria. The meeting was held in collaboration with the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ajayi Crowther University.
The programme started about 10am. Professor Dapo Folorunsho Asaju, vice-chancellor, Ajayi Crowther University, welcomed the attendees and urged the students to pay rapt attention as it was a rare opportunity.
The first speaker, Dr OA Ajala, head of the Pure and Applied Mathematics Department, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, spoke about sensitization and awareness of the importance of studying mathematics. He defined mathematics and related it to how it can be viewed as a subject and as a discipline. He emphasised the importance of mathematics in society.
The second speaker, Dr OM Olayiwola, head of the Department of Statistics, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, discussed statistics and related it to how it can be viewed as a subject and as a discipline. He emphasised the importance of statistics as a tool to collect data, process, analyse, disseminate it and make useful decisions; which can be communicated to the people through graphical representation. He mentioned the relationship of statistics to other fields such as mathematics (set theory), economics (econometrics), geography (spatial analysis), agriculture (experimental design) and the environment (environmental statistics), emphasising the aspects of statistics that are relevant.
The sensitization and awareness of the importance of studying statistics and mathematics talks served as an eye opener for students who didn't know that mathematics and statistics can be studied as a discipline in higher education.
The talk was graced by over 200 students from various secondary schools in Ibadan, Ogbomoso and Oyo, six members of the RSS and the entire staff members of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo.
Dr OM Olayiwola and Dr AO Binuyo presented the certificates and gifts to the students and the students that performed best in a quiz competition.