The history of SPAS commenced in 1996. Prof. Gane Samb Lo earned his PhD from the University of Paris 6 in France in 1986, where he delved into the fascinating realm of scientific publications and the collaborative life of scholarly societies. Specifically, he actively engaged in the activities of the International Mathematical Institute () and the International Statistical Institute ().

He returned to Senegal in 1990 and assumed a position as an assistant at the University of Gaston Berger (UGB) in 1991, successfully defending his doctoral thesis at the University of Dakar the same year. During this time, he envisioned launching a significant African organization that would unite statisticians and probabilists across our universities. The initial step was establishing a bilingual newsletter [in French and English] named the SASPU Bulletin, which he distributed via postal mail to universities for which he had addresses. In each issue, this bulletin provided updates on the census of statisticians and probabilists in Africa, particularly in West Africa.

This census facilitated the inauguration of the first Master's program in Statistics and Probability at UGB, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa), with the participation of experts such as Youssouf Ouknine [Morocco], Modeste Nzi [Cote d'Ivoire], and Marcel Nkiet [Gabon].

The Governance Challenge:

By designating our group as a society, we aspired to operate it similarly to societies on other continents. Two prominent features of these societies are:

1. Members paying membership fees to ensure minimal functioning, leading to governance through a council, a small executive committee, and a carefully pre-selected president.
2. Members, through their university affiliations, having the means to travel and participate in annual meetings.

However, these conditions are seldom met in Africa. Nonetheless, we made several attempts to hold a physical general assembly to establish the new African Society of Probability and Statistics (SAPS/SPAS). For this purpose, we reached out to the Senegalese government, various institutions, and individuals willing to help, but it proved to be an unattainable approach.

Evolution towards an Organization:

The viable path left was voluntary collaboration with our friends. Consequently, we launched our inaugural journal, Afrika Statistika, which enjoyed immediate and resounding success both in Africa and globally. Once indexed by MathSciNet and Zentralblatt, it became a flagship publication among African journals. This success emboldened us to consolidate our activities around SPAS.

From that period until 2020, SPAS:

• Operated as a non-profit organization.
• Was administratively governed by a coordination team under the leadership of Prof. Gane Samb Lo.
• Primarily relied on the coordinator's personal resources and the resources of UGB.
• Expanded its reach to encompass all African nations.
• Attained recognition from prominent academic societies.
• Facilitated the participation of numerous African researchers in statistical conferences.
• Established a network of African statisticians and probabilists.
• Fostered synergy among a substantial number of statisticians and probabilists across Africa.
• Launched a publishing house featuring journals and an e-book publishing division. Some of these publications are available on the Euclid platform ().

In conclusion, all the aforementioned accomplishments were achieved under challenging conditions. SAPS/SPAS functioned as a non-profit organization, guided by dedicated volunteers under the coordination of Prof. Gane Samb Lo.

Recognitions:

To conduct its activities, SAPS/SPAS received support from various sources, including:

• My PhD students and close collaborators.
• The University of Gaston Berger.
• The Computing Center at UGB.
• The UGB Faculty of Science and Technology (UFR SAT).
• The UGB Faculty of Economics (UFR de Sciences Economiques).
• Statisticians Without Borders.
• Individual personalities, including:
• Prof. Souleymane Dabye.
• Prof. Abdelhakim Necir.
• Prof. Brahim Mezerdi.
• Dawud Shangodoyin.
• Youssouf Ouknine.
• Vincent Agboto.
• And many others, unfortunately, too numerous to mention.