Build on shared infrastructure for AI, FG urges African countries

The Federal Government has called on African countries to build on shared infrastructure to harness the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) era.

Malam Kashifu Inuwa, the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), made the call at the opening ceremony of the Gulf Information Technology Conference and Exhibition (GITEX) Africa in Abuja.

The theme of the four-day event is: “Building Continental Digital Foundations for Equitable AI Development”.

Inuwa said that for African countries to lead in AI revolution, they would require building capabilities in proper frameworks, developing infrastructure and building human capital.

“We need to look at human capital development, Africa has the talent and we have the digital native population and we can position ourselves to be a leader in this revolution.

“The 4IR is about technology and it is about talent because talented people make technology better.

“We need to see how we can collaborate among nations to learn from each other and build,” he said.

Inuwa said that Nigeria had the talent acceleration programme,the digital literacy for all programme and other programmes to leverage the revolution.

According to him, the second capability that should be looked at is the infrastructure.

“Under the infrastructure, we need to look at the connectivity and data storage, among other issues,” he said.

The D-G said that there was no initiative driving shared infrastructure in Africa, saying that working together would ensure that Africa becomes part of the AI revolution.

“This is not only government’s responsibility, we need to work as government and private sector to build it together.

“The third capability is about building policies, building enabling environment because, unlike previous industrial revolutions where Africa was negatively impacted, we can not afford to lose out this time.

“This is a revolution that will lead to the exponential growth.

“All African countries, industry players, government and academia need to work together on how we can build a shared infrastructure for Africa so we can benefit from AI transformation,” he said.

Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said that the state government was putting every effort to make Lagos the most secure and attractive for all innovators in Africa.

“We are looking at digitalised infrastructure expansion and we are aggressively expanding rural mass penetration by laying fiber optics cables all around the sea,” he said.

Mrs Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President of Dubai Trade Centre, said that Nigeria had been involved lately in so many digital activities on AI, hence the hosting of GITEX Africa iin the country.

“Underpinned by the overarching national AI strategy that was only launched last year with a five-year roadmap, it is clearly positioning Nigeria to be in its global leadership position and being the innovation leader in the world.

“There is a lot going to be happening between now to 2030, and this is why we launch here,” she said.

According to her, the path to get to become the next AI global hub is not going to be lenient.

“It is going to be full of challenges, and Africa should be prepared for it,” she said.

Our correspondent reports that GITEX Africa will hold in Abuja and Lagos respectively, with industry players across the continent and beyond, academia, governments, companies, among other entities participating.