The Federal Government is seen pushing to launch Nigeria into the sustainable digital economy with the commissioning of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
The centre built by National Information Technology Agency (NITDA), is equipped with facilities such as digital innovation laboratory, namespace and fabrication laboratory, printed circuit board facilities, 3D printers, co-working space for startups, training facility, offices for ICT innovation content and the Abuja Massachusetts Institute of Technology Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration programme office.
The centre, according to the government, will help to drive the practical application of emerging technologies for sustainable socio-economic development.
Minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Pantami, who commissioned the centre in Abuja on Friday, said it would provide a platform for achieving a national digital economy for Nigeria through digital literacy and skill development, innovation in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, and as well as harnessing the power of discovery, incubation and acceleration (DIA)
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“The centre will also support innovators in making their businesses more competitive through speeding up development and uptake of digital innovations” he added.
Pantami urged Nigerian youths to make use of the centre whose purpose is to ignite creativity and critical thinking in providing a world-class solution
He said “artificial intelligence is the refinery of a digital economy. The initiative behind the centre is to challenge our young ones to partake in critical thinking of what the world would need in the next few years. The centre is for all Nigerians who have the potential to utilise it”
The director-general, National Information Technology Agency (NITDA), Kashiffu Abdullahi, said the centre was designed to facilitate the development of Nigeria into a sustainable digital economy, in line with the National Digital Economy policy and strategy for a digital Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the minister of state for science and technology, Mohammed Abdullahi, citing the 2020 global innovation index, lamented that Nigeria was not among the first hundred nations in terms of innovation.
He, however, observed the launch of the centre for artificial intelligence and robotics was a bold step toward ensuring innovation in the country.
