Nigeria
Computer Society (NCS) held the maiden Artificial Intelligence Summit in
Lafia, Nassarawa State from Wednesday 25th – Friday 27th
March, 2022.
At the
Summit, the President of Nigeria
Computer Society (NCS), Professor Adesina Sodiya called on Nigerian to
leverage on Artificial intelligence for the economic growth of the
country. According to Prof. Sodiya, “Artificial
intelligence is been implemented across the globe to enhance the process and
activities of both the public and private organization, countries and business
are now leveraging on the technology. Integrating AI in Government would
trigger numerous activities such as better policy formulation, efficient
decision making, enhancing quality of service and increase work output in
promoting good government”, he added
In his goodwill
message at the Summit, the President and Chairman of Council, Mr. Kole Jagun
said that the AI Summit is an agenda whose time has come. He said the
convocation of the Summit would do Nigeria good as it will profoundly reshape
the social and economic landscape of our nation, even as it is capable of
sparking innovations and foster creative solutions in fields such as agriculture,
medicine, transportation, finance, education, etc. He said it was therefore
wisdom that individuals, corporate organisations and governments must embrace
AI opportunities for competitive advantage and rapid national development.
Recent research has estimated Artificial Intelligence to provide several
trillions of dollars of global economic growth and Nigeria cannot afford to
miss out of the great potentials of AI as a game changer.
Speaking at
the summit, Minister of Communication and Information, Prof. Isa Pantami said
the Federal Government would partner with Nigeria Computer Society on
Artificial intelligence for National Development. Prof Pantami, represented by
the Director, National Center for Artificial intelligence and robotics, Engr.
Ya’u Garba commended the NCS for initiating the AI 2022 summit. He said the
platform has created an enabling environment to discuss and promote AI for
adoption in public and private organization to ensure a rapid national
development using emerging technology for the benefit of the nation.
The Nasarawa
state Governor, Abdullahi Sule represented by his Deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe
said AI is an accelerator for innovation and economy growth not only in Nigeria
but the entire globe.
According to
the Governor, “AI is design to develop digital
system and technology to encourage human capacity in solving problems and
decision making. The system is geared towards reshaping the social and economy
landscape of the nation and would serve as a catalyst for innovation as well as
foster creation in the area of Agriculture, Medicines, education, revenue
generation among others”.
The theme
for the 2022 Artificial intelligence Summit is “Artificial
intelligence for National Development”.