ICAN commends varsity don for Africa’s first statistical software

The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Davidson Alaribe, has said that many companies fail because of the inaccuracy of financial analysis.

Alaribe said this at the unveiling of the first-ever robust and workable statistical data analysis software package, dubbed VSP (ValueStats Statistical Package), at Babcock University, Ilisan Remo.

The software was produced by a Professor of Accounting and programmer at the university, Prof. Enyi Patrick Enyi.

Alaribe lauded Prof. Enyi’s effort in registering the institute and the accounting profession on yet another global innovation map.

The ICAN President, who was represented by Prof. Godwin Oyedokun of Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, commended Prof. Enyi for his academic prowess and achievement, saying that the institute will not only support but also continue to partner with those promoting excellence in the accounting profession.

He noted that for the profession to contribute meaningfully to nation-building, practitioners should adopt the book titled Financial Modelling and use it as a workable tool to ease the trouble in the system.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Ademola Tayo, who described the innovation as a milestone achievement for the continent, noted that the homegrown statistical package will save the country a whopping sum of $1 billion annually.

He disclosed this while speaking during the historic unveiling of the software package as well as the launch of another book, Financial Modeling, authored by the same Professor of Accounting, held at the Babcock Business School Auditorium.

The Vice-Chancellor, represented by a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Sunday Owolabi, said: “This is no doubt a historical event, a great moment of pride for Africans because this kind of product is the first on this continent.

“The VSP statistical package is special and peculiar in its own way. All the ones we had been using before Prof. Enyi Patrick Enyi came up with this innovation are foreign, imported from China, Japan, and India, among others. But this VSP statistical package is produced in Nigeria and it’s far better.

“There are several modules that this statistical package contains, which are not in those foreign ones. And using this accounting statistical package invented by this great scholar will save Nigerians at least $1 billion because the users will be buying these packages in naira, which is the equivalent of $40, and so it will help ease a lot of pressure on our Forex.”

Tayo urged lecturers, students, and other people to use the package, imploring them to go to YouTube to learn more about it. He asked users to give feedback so as to assist the author in knowing what else to add in the next version.

He described Enyi as a brilliant scholar and teacher of repute, urging him to remain steadfast in his chosen path of impacting the world for good.

Speaking at the program, Enyi said the urge to look inward to create an accounting statistical package that suits the peculiarities of Nigeria’s environment and ways of doing things in Africa was the ultimate motivation.

“This is the first time an African is producing a statistical package. Those we were using before, like SPSS from America, EV from India, and Stata from India, among others, were never developed in Africa.

“And we are doing this to make a difference. As an academic, I have always been researching, and most of my research is African. But many times, some of these foreign packages won’t give me the result that I want, so I began to think of that statistical package that will take our peculiarities into consideration.

“In those other packages, you have to learn how to code them to use them, but this is our own. VSP has been made to be user-friendly. We have made it menu-driven such that the menu can suggest what you want to do, and you pick it up and do whatever you want to do.

“For instance, after doing your analysis in the VSP, it will automatically produce your graphs for you. But in others like SPSS, EV, or Stata, you will have to select the graph that you want,” he said.

Enyi said the breakthrough signifies that with genuine and concerted effort, Africans have what it takes to solve their socio-economic challenges.

“It took me two years to get the software developed. Talking about cost, an average SPSS, which I was using before coming up with this innovation, cost me about $280. It must also be renewed annually.

“But this one is $40, which is about N60,000, and you will continue to use it until maybe we develop another version. We shall be saving our country millions of dollars with this newly developed statistical package,” he said.