Boosting Data Literacy In Nigerian Research Teams
Research teams across Nigerian universities and public institutions are collecting valuable data on malaria prevalence, rural health trends, and other critical issues, yet most of it remains unused. Despite strong expertise in biology and medicine, many lack the analytical, visualization, and datamanagement skills needed to translate raw data into actionable insights. This skills gap continues […]
Research teams across Nigerian universities and public institutions are collecting valuable data on malaria prevalence, rural health trends, and other critical issues, yet most of it remains unused. Despite strong expertise in biology and medicine, many lack the analytical, visualization, and datamanagement skills needed to translate raw data into actionable insights. This skills gap continues to limit research productivity and evidence-based policymaking nationwide.
The beginning of 2024 has highlighted the urgency. The Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) of 2023 now requires strict privacy safeguards, Data Protection Impact Assessments, and secure handling of sensitive information. Without adequate data literacy, research teams struggle to meet these standards, exposing institutions to breaches and compliance failures.
Equally pressing are the FAIR principles—Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability, which remain largely unattainable for most teams. Inadequate curation and limited technical skills prevent valuable datasets from being discovered or reused, reducing Nigeria’s research output and its contribution to sustainable development.
Between 2020 and 2023, Comfort Jaja implemented the open-source KOHA library system at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, significantly improving data accuracy and compliance. In 2022, she volunteered with UNICEF Nigeria, training 30 girls in ICT and supporting birth registration during the polio immunization drive in five communities. These initiatives demonstrated how targeted digital skills can strengthen both national policy work and grassroots data collection.
Evaluations conducted in 2023 and early 2024 confirm a substantial gap. Only 9 per cent of Nigerians used a computer in the three months before the latest World Bank survey, with men twice as likely as women. While researchers manage basic digital tasks, proficiency drops sharply for advanced tools such as R, Python, SPSS, metadata creation, and data visualization. In southern universities, fewer than half of academic staff use these tools beyond basic functions; in the north, unreliable electricity and internet connections compound the problem. National reports show that higher-education curricula still lag in modern data science and research data management.
The impact extends beyond laboratories. Weak data literacy complicates NDPA compliance, increases breach risks, and hinders progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals in health, education, and poverty reduction. It also widens the gender gap in research, as women continue to face greater barriers to acquiring digital skills, limiting diverse perspectives in research teams.
The solution lies in coordinated, practical training. National bodies, including the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Nigerian Library Association, and NITDA, should introduce annual workshops on data cleaning, statistical analysis, visualization, privacy-by-design, and FAIRcompliant metadata. Universities need to embed research-data-management and data-protection modules across all disciplines, supported by partnerships with international organizations and technology companies to scale these efforts.
With improved data literacy, NDPA compliance will become routine, SDG monitoring will strengthen, global collaborations will expand, and new opportunities will arise in Nigeria’s growing data sector. The early months of 2024 have made it clear: data literacy shortfalls threaten privacy, research quality, and governance. Sustained investment in training is essential to build a resilient, data-driven research ecosystem that propels Nigeria forward.
Comfort works at the Anderson Academic Commons as an Instructional Repository Assistant. Her research interest centers on implementing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles within academic libraries. She is particularly focused on how libraries support research data curation, ensure metadata quality, and bridge the gap between policy and practice to advance open and transparent scholarly communication.