The National Policy on Artificial Intelligence has been finalized by Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and is ready for submission to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
A group of 63 information technology professionals and NITDA officials developed the draught.
Following NITDA’s publication of an “expression of interest” in October 2022, 351 volunteers’ applications from Nigeria and abroad were received, and the experts were chosen from among them.
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Importance of the NITDA AI policy
The NITDA’s Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, stressed the need to have a policy in place to guide the development and deployment of AI in Nigeria to revolutionise technical innovation.
He highlighted the potential of Artificial Intelligence to revolutionise the world, transform industries, and save lives by curing terminal diseases and reversing genetic disorders.
Inuwa also stated that although it also poses a significant risks such as bias, privacy violation and job displacement, the policy is important to guide its development.
He said an implementation strategic plan would be drafted to ensure that the policy achieves the purpose for which it is formulated.
Commending the volunteers
The NITDA Boss commended the group for the “exceptional work in developing the Policy for Nigeria, adding that the agency initiated the process of co-creating the Policy because it strongly believes that the government and stakeholders forming the ecosystem can achieve greater things together.
According to him, this is because there are things the agency can do as the government’s establishment that the ecosystem cannot do, and there are things the ecosystem can do that the government cannot do.
He said that the NITDA Secretariat will now take over and continue working on the document’s design to get it ready for publication.
The Agency would thereafter socialise with its various stakeholders and send it to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy for onward passage to FEC for approval.
He observed that what the volunteers had achieved with the policy was commendable, and it is a result-oriented approach to engage them.
Inuwa assured them that a letter of commendation would be sent to them as no amount of money could assuage the commitment they put into drafting the policy.
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Major Areas covered by the policy
Describing the draft as robust, the NITDA boss outlined seven major areas covered by the policy to include Education and Research; Finance; Health; Media and Telecommunications; Labour and Productivity; General and Special Issues (such as building safe and responsible AI, ensuring Nigerian culture and values are digitally visible); and Security.
He said the policy would position the nation to create and derive values from it and avoid the pitfalls and perils that could be associated with it.
The National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR)
NCAIR is one of NITDA’s special purpose vehicles created to promote research and development on emerging technologies and their practical application in areas of Nigerian national interest.
NCAIR, as a digital innovation and research facility is focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Drones, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other emerging technologies aimed at transforming the Nigerian digital economy in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS). NCAIR is also focused on creating a thriving ecosystem for innovation-driven entrepreneurship (IDE), job creation and national development.