The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has announced that the government is set to launch a new $1.5 million initiative to support the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the country. Dr. Tijani revealed this in an interview with Arise TV following his participation at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The initiative, scheduled to be launched on October 7th in Abuja, is supported by Luminate, a global foundation working to ensure that everyone has the information, rights, and power to influence decisions that affect their lives.
This comes shortly after the Ministry’s launch of a previous AI Fund in collaboration with Google, which was criticized by the tech community for being insufficient to drive the AI revolution.
Addressing the criticism, Dr. Tijani emphasized that the government’s approach to AI involves pooling resources together. He clarified that the $1.5 million support from Luminate, to be launched in October, is part of broader efforts and additional support to secure more resources for AI development.
In addition to this initiative, the Ministry is working on establishing the National Artificial Intelligence Trust in collaboration with AI Collaborative. This initiative aims to focus on using local languages in AI development and ensure that AI development in Nigeria is ethical, safe, and sustainable. The Trust will work alongside the government to drive growth and will reinvest proceeds from AI efforts back into supporting further AI development.
Dr. Tijani also highlighted the government’s efforts to address grassroots challenges with technology, emphasizing the long-term benefits of large-scale projects such as infrastructure development. He mentioned the ongoing project to lay 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables across Nigeria, stressing its importance for the country’s future despite the time it will take to complete.
Furthermore, Dr. Tijani mentioned the government’s 3 million Technical Talent (3MT) initiative, which is already providing job opportunities for many Nigerians, especially those trained under its programs. The government’s 774 Project also aims to connect local government secretariats to improve grassroots-level service delivery.
In summary, the National AI workshop convened by the Ministry earlier this year led to the launch of AI Collective, a community of practice collaborating to accelerate the nation’s collective prosperity through an inclusive AI Ecosystem. Luminate has announced plans to provide $1.5 million over the next three years to support the work of the AI Collective, housed within the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR). This funding will enable the organizations involved to bring together expertise from civil society, academia, tech, and other sectors to work on governance, research, and innovation.