The study of Mathematics and Statistics has been very challenging for many Ghanaian students, with many having their education cut short because they could not pass their Mathematics examination at the Senior High School level.
The story of Dr. Mumuni Napari Hanifa is different as she ventured into the area of Mathematics to “prove that it wasn’t a different area to attain the highest level of success”.
The 28-year-old statistician from Tamale in the Northern Region Thursday, September 29, became the youngest woman from Ghana’s third largest city to successfully defend her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Applied Statistics thesis at the University for Development Studies.
She is now set to graduate with her PhD in Applied Statistics before the end of 2022 at the university.
Dr. Napari Hanifa, a native of Tamale and a product of Tamale Girls Senior High School (Pagnaa) had set a target to acquire her PhD before clocking 30 years, a target she achieved within three years after enrolling in her PhD program.
The young statistician, who is currently an assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology at the Tamale Technical University already has three publications.
Her works include “That Affect Maternal Mortality in Rwanda: A Comparative Study with India and Bangladesh”, “Generalized power Weibull software reliability growth model” and “Chen Software Reliability Growth Model”.
Dr. Napari Hanifa told GhanaWeb she grew up falling in love with Mathematics because she always wanted to do something more challenging.
She said she has always dreamed about finding ways to encourage her peers and young women to study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related programs, hence she will use her position to work towards realizing that.
“STEM is an area I’ve always wanted to encourage many young ladies to take up. In our country today, these are the areas we should be pushing our younger generation into and I’m happy for my achievement because I have something to show my mentees that success comes after all the hard work and sacrifices,” Dr. Napari Hanifa said.
She recalled the extremely difficult times she went through during her PhD study days, noting that she was happy that didn’t go in vain.
“I had really difficult moments, I was cut off from my friends and sometimes family, I got depressed and it almost felt like giving up at times but Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah that didn’t go in vain,” she said.
Mumuni Napari Hanifa attended Tamale Girls Senior High School before proceeding to the University for Development Studies where she studied BSc Statistics. She gained admission to study MSc Mathematical Sciences at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. She is married.
28-year-old Dr. Mumuni Napari Hanifa