$250m Continental GDP: FG to develop National AI strategy to harness benefits
By Mathew Ibiyemi
The Federal Government of Nigeria has disclosed plans to develop a National AI strategy to harness the benefits of Artifical intelligence (AI) to the $234billion 2030 projected GDP of Africa.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani made this disclosure in a post on his X page (formerly Twitter).
According to Dr Tijani, “Artificial Intelligence has become a multi-purpose technology transforming production and service delivery, with the potential to significantly impact economic growth and social progress.
“Recent research shows that Al could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with $3 trillion from increased productivity and $9.1 trillion from new products and services (PwC, 2018).
“The International Finance Corporation projects that the strategic adoption of Al could add up $234 billion to Africa’s GDP by 2030. Nigeria in this loop is considered to have a fast-growing technology start-up ecosystem (having attracted 25% of the $1.3 billion funding to African tech start-ups in 2021) and with proactive leadership, is well-positioned to leverage Al for economic diversification and inclusive growth.”
Speaking on the needing for the policy document, the Minister noted that, “a an innovation leader on the African continent, Nigeria needs to develop a national strategy to harness the power of Al for sustainable development.
“However, along with the opportunities, Al governance also poses some complex socio-technical challenges. As algorithms are deployed in high-stake domains like healthcare, finance, and security, concerns are emerging around ethics, bias, transparency, job automation and privacy. Both policy makers and researchers are of a consensus that a human-centered approach is essential to ensure Al systems are fair and accountable to all, across gender, ethnic and socioeconomic groups,” He explained.
He went on further to add that a national Al Strategy for Nigeria will responsibly steer the Al revolution towards achieving national goals around job creation, social inclusion, and sustainable development becomes imperative.
“With collaborative leadership, Nigeria seeks to pioneer ethical and inclusive Al innovation that improves welfare and expands opportunities for all its citizens,” he revealed.
The Minister also noted that the ministry is out to recruit top researchers of Nigerian descent from all over the world to join it in co-creating a National AI Strategy.
