To strengthen Nigeria’s emerging artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, said the government is about to launch an additional $1.5 million initiative.
The minister made this known in a television interview yesterday regarding the results of participation in the just-concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Tijani said the foundation, which will be launched on October 7 in Abuja, is a global foundation that works to ensure that all people have the information, rights and power to influence the decisions that affect their lives. He explained that it was support from a certain Luminate.
A few weeks ago, the Ministry of ComTech, in collaboration with Google, launched a 100 million Naira AI Fund, which received heavy criticism from the tech community for being too small to drive Nigeria’s AI revolution. I want you to remember.
Tijani noted that criticism of the previously launched 100 million Naira AI Fund was due to misunderstandings, but added that people should be aware of the additional support and broader efforts the government is making to secure more resources. He said they were not aware of the efforts being made and focused on superficial numbers.
“Our strategy for AI is not to limit AI to local resources, but to pool resources together. On October 7th in Abuja, we will launch an additional $1.5 million in support from Luminate. “I do,” he declared.
Tijani added that another initiative the ministry is working on is the National Artificial Intelligence Trust in collaboration with the AI Collaborative, which focuses on the use of local languages in AI development.
“The Trust will be the body that ensures AI development in Nigeria is ethical, safe and sustainable, and will work with government to drive growth.
“By building language models at scale and digitizing the data, we can monetize these efforts, with proceeds going back into the trust to support further AI development,” he said. Ta.
Tijani spoke about leveraging technology to address grassroots challenges, especially creating balance between high-level technology initiatives, and how large-scale projects may not be immediately praised or easily understood by everyone. admitted that there is.
However, he emphasized the long-term benefits of these efforts, especially in areas such as infrastructure development.
“The role of technology in society is to enable progress, and that will not happen overnight,” he said, pointing to the government’s ongoing project to lay 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable across Nigeria. emphasized.
Tijani said the project took 18 months to secure $2 billion in funding and another two to three years for full installation, but it remains critical to the country’s future.
“I don’t expect it to get applause right away because it takes time. But you can’t ignore such projects just because you have poverty. In the short to medium term, projects like this It will alleviate a lot of problems,” he said.
Mr. Tijani also said that the government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MT) initiative is already yielding tangible benefits, providing employment opportunities for many Nigerians, especially those trained under the programme. He pointed out that there was.
He added that the government’s 774 project aims to connect local government offices and improve service delivery at the grassroots level.
