Universities in Nigeria are not left behind in the ongoing data and artificial intelligence revolution. Nigerian institutions have started offering data/analytics-related courses facilitated by departments such as Statistics and Computer Science, and a few have coined the term M.Sc. Data Science/Analytics and are venturing more into artificial intelligence and machine learning research. This article presents a list of Universities in Nigeria that are offering data science, data analytics, and artificial intelligence-related postgraduate programs.
It’s already an established fact that data is now the most important asset an organization or business can have.
Data Science is the study of processes and tools used in deriving insights from a massive amount of data for innovative decisions or to power technological solutions. Data science involves the extraction, data transformation, data analysis, and prediction to gain actionable insight and information from raw big data. It employs techniques and theories drawn from many fields such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, and information science to extract meaningful insights from data. A Data scientist is therefore a person who combines a range of skills and tools to analyze data collected from the web, smartphones, customers, sensors, and other sources.
Data scientists are among the most sought-after positions in the world presently. Indeed and LinkedIn, which are the top job sites in the world have been reporting a significant increase in demand for Data Scientists year over year.
The BBC News has reported yet a high demand for tech workers mostly for those experienced in artificial intelligence (AI) tech and data science since more companies are now focusing on collecting and processing their business and customer data.
The University of Wisconsin report for entry-level data scientist salary observed that despite a recent influx of early-career professionals into the field of data science, the median starting salary remains high in the United States.
In Nigeria, a person working as a Data Analyst or Data Scientist can earn up to 500,000 NGN per month depending on the level of experience and size of the company. Salaries can range from 100,000 NGN (lowest) to 500,000 NGN (highest) according to DataLab Nigeria Survey. Skill in data science also opens doors for many global opportunities, because people with the skills are potential global talents.
MyJobMag rated data jobs as one of the fastest-growing in Nigeria. Many companies now employ Data Scientists or Data Analysts in Nigeria.
Universities offering Data Science in Nigeria are listed in the table below with links to access their admission or school web pages at the time of this writing.
DATA SCIENCE-RELATED COURSES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES
| S/No | University | Department | Program | Areas of Specialization | Visit Program Link |
| 1 | Covenant University | Computer & Information Science | MSc. Computer Science | Artificial Intelligence, Data Mining, Machine Learning, Mobile Computing | bit.ly/3oRkc7c |
| 2 | African University of Science & Technology | MSc. | Geoinformatics and GIS | t.ly/wFYZ | |
| 3 | University of Nigeria, Nsukka | Computer Science | MSc. | Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence | t.ly/e5uM |
| 4 | Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka | Computer Science | MSc. | Artificial Intelligence | bit.ly/3muaINj |
| 5 | University of Port Harcourt | Computer Science | Ph.D | Artificial Intelligence, Database Systems | bit.ly/3oVU2jC |
| 6 | University of Uyo | Computer Science | Ph.D | Computational Intelligence | https://uniuyo.edu.ng/faculty-of-science/computer-science/# |
| 7 | Babcock University | Computer Science | MSc. | Data Analytics and Business Intelligence | t.ly/fMHU |
| 8 | Lead City University | Computer Science | MSc. Computer Science | Computational Intelligence | t.ly/L4Zh |
| 9 | Igbinedion University Okada | MSc. Computer Science & Information Technology | Artificial Intelligence & Expert System | bit.ly/3ahBsOU | |
| 10 | Nile University | Computer Science | MSc. Computer Science | Artificial Intelligence, Database Systems | t.ly/mD36 |
| 11 | NOUN | Sciences | B.Sc. Data Management | Data management | http://bit.ly/2NgPoj8 |
| 12 | Nasarawa State Uni. Keffi | M.Sc. Data Science and Technology (MDST) | Data Science and Technology | https://bit.ly/2NqcpA7 | |
| 13 | American University of Nigeria | Data Science and Analytics (MSc) | Data Science and Analytics | http://bit.ly/2M6vQx8 | |
| 14 | University of Ibadan | M.C.S, MPhil and PhD in Computer Sci. | Data Mining | bit.ly/3uj8xSe | |
Join us to Learn from our Data Scientists
Trainees will undergo intensive internship and have hands-on training working with data science tools by building portfolios with real-life projects.
BROWSE SAMPLE PROJECTS DONE BY OUR INTERNS, CLICK HERE: sites.google.com/view/datalab
CHECK OTHER CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS WE OFFER HERE: www.datalabanalyticshub.com