WorldStage Newsonline– The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, has said the newly commissioned National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) will enable diversification of the economy and create more jobs.
Dr. Pantami who disclosed this at the official commissioning ceremony of the NCAIR in Abuja, said the centre will serve as a leading hub of innovation, research and development, knowledge transfer, and training in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and other emerging technologies.
He said, “Our adoption of regulatory sandbox frameworks for testing technology in a controlled environment will enable the centre accelerate the progress we are making in the development of our digital economy.
According to him, “Emerging technologies change from time to time since they are technologies that ‘emerge’ or ‘evolve’. However, the following are generally considered to be emerging technologies at the moment: Artificial Intelligence; Internet of Things; Robotics; Cyber security; Virtual Reality and Augmeted Reality; Blockchain; Big Data Analytics; Cloud Computing.
“Artificial Intelligence is the Refinery of the digital economy and Robotics is very useful in supporting companies as they carry out repetitive tasks. These are 2 very important emerging technologies that will shape the face of future technologies and we have decided to be proactive to enable us play a key role in how these technologies evolve.
“In addition to Pillar # 7, other pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy will support the activities of this Centre. For example, as part of Pillar #1 we are creating the regulatory environment required for the success of the Centre. These include related policies and regulatory instruments like the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), National Cloud Computing Policy, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan and the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy, amongst others. “
He explained that “the Solid Infrastructure (Pillar #3) will enable broadband connectivity and this will aid the deployment of solutions developed in this Centre. The Digital Services Development and Promotion (Pillar #5) and the Indigenous Content Development and Adoption (Pillar #8) also reflect our vision for this Centre.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution, fuelled by Big Data, propelled by robust computing capacity, advanced software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ushering new ways of living, well-being, learning, travelling and working. Its innovative use-cases are quickly changing lives for the better and creating new types of jobs.”
In his speech, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, said “the Centre is built to foster the development of emerging technologies in preparing Nigeria for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and strategy.
“This project is one among many of our developmental programmes in accordance with NITDA’s core mandate of facilitating the growth of Information Technology (IT) development in Nigeria. We are focused on providing support for viable innovations with socio-economic impact as well as a level playing field for all Nigerians to thrive in.
“As we enter the age of advanced technological breakthroughs such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Nigeria cannot be left out in harnessing the advantages of AI, Robotics and other emerging technologies.
“AI has the potential to add to economic growth but the impact may be gradual and take sometimes to manifest according to McKinsey Global Institute. Develop countries can add 20 to 25% net income to their GDP while developing countries like Nigeria can add 5 to 15%. Nigerian GDP is around 400B USD thus AI can add between 20B to 60B USD in 10 years. This centre is aimed at achieving such unprecedented boost to our economy.”
