UNIBEN, group partner to promote African languages

The University of Benin (UNIBEN) has partnered with a group, OpenBinacle, to promote and preserve African languages through research and development in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Translation (MT).

It was reported that OpenBinacle is an information technology firm wholly owned by some Nigerians to defend and promote the interests of Africa and Nigeria in particular.

This is contained in a statement jointly issued by the two partners on Wednesday in Benin.

It said the partnership was aimed at standardising and preserving Nigerian and other indigenous languages in Africa.

In her remark, Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Lilian Salami, described the partnership as a welcome development.

According to her, it aligns with the university’s vision of being a globally recognised institution.

Salami, who is the Vice President, Association of African Universities (AAU), said UNIBEN aspired to be a model institution in teaching, research and community service.

According to her, the university is always striving to foster a dynamic and supportive environment where both the students and staff can achieve their full potential.

“The university seeks to produce graduates who are not only academically excellent but also possess the skills, ethics and values needed to make a positive impact in their communities and the world at large.

“Through this vision, UNIBEN will continuously contribute to Nigeria and Africa’s socio-economic and technological advancement by promoting high-quality education and research that address local and global challenges,” she said.

Salami said that the university had played a crucial role in the cultural and intellectual life of Benin City and the broader Edo, and would not hesitate to expand to this on the continent.

On his part, OpenBinacle Group’s CEO, Mr Emmanuel Gabriel, stated that the partnership would raise an army of AI researchers, scientists, engineers, linguist practitioners and software developers, to work on OpenBinacle AI and communication tools.

According to him, the goal of automatic translation of free-text and documents from foreign languages into African languages or between any two languages was one of the oldest pursuits of AI research at OpenBinacle.

He said the partnership would provide training and education to students and unemployed youths in artificial intelligence, natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, and linguistics.

Gabriel asserted that no language in Africa would be left behind with a pledge to promote inclusion and participation through open data and internship opportunities.

“The partnership will also provide jobs to graduates through the Hackathon selection process.

“The partnership is essential for OpenBinacle AI research and the preservation of more than 2,000 African languages spoken in all 54 countries in Africa,” he said.

Gabriel stated that the long-term mission of the group was to identify each of the languages, deploy technologies and AI models to analyse and understand the natural language.

He said that this was to allow for more accurate and effective communication between humans and machines.

According to him, OpenBinacle is aligned with the aspirations of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and the African Union, among others.