Thirty youths have been awarded certificates as Fellows of Click-On Kaduna Data Science Fellowship programme (DSFP) after a six months training on modern data management practises.
The programme is supported by the Gates Foundation and facilitated by the Kaduna State Bureau for Statistics and the Natview Foundation for Technology Innovation (NFTI).
The Executive Director NFTI, Nurudeen Maidoki, said over 6,000 people applied for the fellowship program but after a series of exams and screening, only 30 persons were selected.
Kaduna State Statistician General, Dr Salawu Saheed, said the fellows are pioneers of the Data Science Fellowship Programme. He said it has made history and changed the narrative for learning, youth empowerment and youth involvement in governance and decision-making.
“Having gone through a comprehensive curriculum of learning, the graduating fellows are well equipped with key skills to support data effort of the state and as well participate within the data ecosystem, we have seen that about 40 percent of the fellows have transited to data management roles across different sectors and States.”
The Commissioner, Budget and Planning Commission, Mohammed Sani Abdullahi, said the milestone will change not only their future but the future of Kaduna State around using data for decision making.
One of the fellows, Aisha Abubakar, urged the other fellows to find organisations who do not know they have certain problems and show them what data can do and what such firms can become with data.
