On the occasion of the NITDA AI Developers Training (NAIDT) programme at One, the Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has congratulated it on its achievements in empowering young talents in Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the country.
The NAIDT programme, which started as NITDA Developers Group (NDG) Training, is a programme borne out of the need to accelerate the capacity of young Nigerians in Artificial Intelligence, which is one of the most highly demanded tech talent today.
Through NAIDT with the support of volunteers from Google Developers Group (GDG), NITDA has empowered many Nigerian youth and set them on the path to starting a journey that will not only transform their lives but will create a positive domino effect that will impact our society.
NAIDT is anchored on the NITDA “Learn, Teach and Earn” philosophy, which has led to graduates of the programme becoming instructors, hence perpetuating a cycle of learning, teaching, and earning. Former participants are now teaching and mentoring the next generation of tech enthusiasts while augmenting their financial standing through their earnings in the programme.
As NITDA and GDG celebrate NAIDT at One, remarkable successes have been achieved, with not only trained and upskilled Nigerian youths but with participants going ahead to create their innovation-driven startups such as ElonosiaAI, FundusAI, Gyronics to name a few. Others have become ambassadors of tech Giants like Microsoft, while some are using their skills to offer services to foreign companies while living in the country.
At One, NAIDT has gone through 12 cohorts, with training for a total of 2,785 Nigerians from all works of life, such as NYSC corps members, graduates, secondary school students and artisans. Participants are trained in machine learning, data analytics and other AI areas such as natural language processing (NLP). The use of AI tools such as ChatGPT to leverage large language models is also taught during the NAIDT trainings.
The Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, congratulated the beneficiaries and promised to facilitate the success of the startups originating from the programme. He also thanked the GDG for their unwavering support in ensuring the success of the programme. The DG, however, decried the low percentage of female participants, which stood at less than 10%. He challenged the GDG to address the gender imbalance by devising innovative ways such as women-specialized trainings on AI and other emerging technologies.