Dr. Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister for Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, has announced strategic partnerships with industry leaders Cisco, 21st Century Technologies (including Awarri), and DataDotOrg.
The partnerships were revealed during a dinner marking the conclusion of a four-day National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS) Workshop held in Abuja.
The workshop, themed “Developing the High-Level Strategy and Implementation Plan for a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for Nigeria,” aimed to formulate a strategy focused on addressing the needs of Nigerian citizens and communities in the context of emerging technologies.
Tijani highlighted the growing global attention on artificial intelligence (AI) and the increased investments in technology within Nigeria.
He emphasized the significance of these partnerships in driving technological innovation and boosting Nigeria’s digital economy.
Key initiatives outlined by Tijani include:
The relaunch of the National Centre for A.I. and Robotics (NCAIR).
The development of a Nigerian multilingual large language model.
The implementation of Nigeria’s computing infrastructure pilot.
The establishment of the A.I. Collective.
The NCAIR, as a digital innovation and research facility, focuses on AI, robotics, drones, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other emerging technologies to transform Nigeria’s digital economy. Cisco supports capacity-building initiatives at NCAIR.
The Nigerian multilingual large language model project aims to develop robust A.I. models by leveraging high-quality Nigerian language data, supported by Awarri, NITDA, and DataDotOrg.
The minister said: ”The computing infrastructure pilot, developed in partnership with Galaxy Backbone Limited and 21st Century Technologies, will accelerate the development of A.I. projects of national interest and be accessible through NCAIR.
”The A.I. Collective, a community of practice, aims to harness the power of A.I. to drive economic prosperity, accelerate innovation, and position Nigeria as a leading force in A.I. globally.”
He thanked stakeholders for their contributions to the workshop and underscored the benefits of adopting cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, for raising productivity and fostering collective prosperity.
The workshop received support from local and international organizations, including Luminate, Google, Meta, Microsoft, NITDA, NCAIR, NCC, UNESCO, UNDP, Galaxy Backbone Limited, and USPF.
In a related development, the United States of America (USA) and Nigeria are gearing up to engage in discussions on the digital economy, emerging technology, and the development and implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to explore avenues for partnership.
Mr. Arthur Brown, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, revealed this during the workshop’s closing ceremony.
Brown announced that high-level U.S. government officials would convene in Abuja for a conference under the U.S.-Nigeria Bi-National Commission in less than two weeks.
