FG laying solid AI foundation for businesses to thrive – Tijan

Dr Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy says the Federal Government is laying the foundation for Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption in Nigeria.

Tijani said this at the Oxford Global Think Tank (OGTT), where he identified private sector investment as essential to translating government-led reforms into jobs, businesses and wider economic opportunities.

‎He said though government could provide infrastructure, policy direction and an enabling environment, businesses should develop products and services that would translate those investments into economic value.

‎”Government can do reform, invest in foundation for AI but it is businesses that will build the growth on top of those foundations,” he said.

The minister outlined five essential foundations for countries seeking to benefit from AI.

“One is connectivity, second is compute and data infrastructure, third is data, fourth is skills and research capability and lastly, policy and institutions,” he said.

‎He said Nigeria was investing two billion dollars in an open-access fibre-optic network spanning 90,000 kilometres to expand broadband connectivity across the country.

Tijani also said that government was establishing shared computing capacity for researchers, developing local AI capabilities and pursuing a target of training three million technical talents.

He said Nigeria had also developed a government-backed large language model capable of communicating in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ibibio and accented English.

The minister cited the telecommunications sector as evidence of how government reforms could create opportunities for private businesses, recalling how liberalisation in 2001 attracted investment and expanded access to mobile services.

He said the telecommunications expansion created opportunities in financial technology, commerce, logistics and other sectors.

Tijani said Nigeria should approach AI with similar collaboration between government, businesses and knowledge institutions.

‎”Our responsibilities as leaders is to build the capacity through which extraordinary possibilities of technology become ordinary improvements in people’s lives,” he said.

‎Arunma Oteh, Convener of OGTT, says Africa should take an active role in shaping the future of AI to avoid being left behind in the emerging technology.

Oteh said the platform focused on inclusive prosperity, addressing inequalities and harnessing Africa’s potential through thought leadership and practical action.

‎”We believe that technology is an amplifier; that leveraging technology is critical to prosperity because it brings skill.

‎”We are cognisant of the dangers of technology but we think that those can be managed, she said.

Dr Chidinma Okolo, Project Delivery Manager, Space & Satellite Applications Sector said Africa’s challenge in AI was not a lack of talent but ownership of the technology and the economic value it generates.

Okolo who presented the OGTT inaugural AI report said the continent should build its own applications, adapt AI to local languages and conditions, and retain ownership of its data.

‎”Artificial Intelligence reached half the world’s population within three years. Electricity on its own took decades.

‎”The internet took a generation. For the first time in a technological revolution Africa was not the last in line,” she said.

‎She urged Africa to prioritise practical AI applications in healthcare, agriculture, education and small businesses, while investing in skills to prepare workers for changing job demands.

‎Okolo warned that Africa risked repeating its experience with commodities such as cocoa, crude oil and cobalt if it failed to retain the value generated by AI.

She called for greater investment in Africa’s technology sector, data and talent to ensure the continent benefited economically from AI.