The Vice Chancellor of University of Jos, Prof. Tanko Ishaya has revealed that Nigeria is on the verge of releasing a national policy that would regulate the use and application of AI in the country.
Ishaya said the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani and other stakeholders in the ICT sector are currently putting heads together on the draft document which will be unveiled to the public very soon.
He made the revelation on Wednesday, while giving a keynote remark at a National Symposium on “Accelerating Digital Inclusion and Skills Advancement and Acquisition in Nigeria.” sponsored by GIEVA, a non profit civil society organisation.
According to the keynote speaker, technology has no bias for gender, hence citizens should be open minded to leverage on it because of the enormous benefits inherent in it.
Similarly, Chinonso Lekwa, AI expert noted that women were mostly marginalised when it comes to AI technology, stressing that accelerating digital skill penetration would go a long way in bridging the gap. Other stakeholders at the symposium were of the views that mainstreaming AI will help in health, business, education, agriculture and infrastructural development.
Many participants were also of the views that deepening collaborations between public and private sector players would further boost AI penetration in the country. They were specific that collaboration will help in ensuring that digital training programmes are aligned with industry goals and objectives.
The programme which attracted ICT experts from public and private sector saw the launch of jumm.ai, an app dedicated to maximizing opportunities in the internet world.
