Companies that engage more manpower than semi-automated machines for production deserve more incentives from the Federal Government, according to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).
Dr Frank Jacobs, the President of MAN who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos, said this would encourage companies to engage more hands and use less sophisticated machines.
He explained that if manufacturers continue to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) as was being done in other parts of the world, it would lead to an increase in unemployment.
Jacobs urged the Federal Government to provide about 50 per cent tax relief to companies that engage more manpower than sophisticated machines in production.
“By so doing, many other companies would be forced to engage more manpower and this will reduce the high unemployment rate.
“As long as the population of our nation continues to grow, it will be inimical for Nigeria to embrace the use of AI for production.
“If artificial intelligence is fully embraced, it would be detrimental to the issue of employment in this country, and would lead to societal ills such as increase in crime rate,” Jacobs noted.
The MAN president acknowledged that while it was easier to bring in machines to save time and eliminate human error, some issues must be considered.
“Money is not everything. We have to consider the effects of using AI on a future where people are thrown out of their jobs because they are being replaced by machines.
“It is happening already. The kind of crimes we hear of in this country, we have never heard of them before now,’’ he said.
