The Nigerian government has announced its plans to establish technology centres across the country. This was disclosed by the Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, yesterday 23rd June, 2021 at the Digital Africa annual Conference.
The Minister acknowledged that the theme of this year’s conference is one of the moments as the Nigerian government is making efforts to aid emerging technologies at this time. This year’s conference was tagged; “Building a New Africa with AI and Blockchain”.
He cited the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) as one agency that focuses on the development of emerging technologies among the Nigerian populace.
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Pantami further stated while addressing the conference virtually that the country aims to achieve this through the establishment of 3 subsidiaries. The first is the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and the other two are said to be virtual institutions building in the Blockchain Technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) space, cloud computing among other related spaces.
The Minister stressed that the development of policies to support the aim of NDEPS in establishing technology centres in Nigeria are in the works according to report;
“The development of a National Policy on Emerging Technologies, as part of NDEPS, which will further support the establishment of Emerging Technology Centres in Nigeria is underway”
He added that the ministry will add an innovation center and ICT Park to the already established AI and Robotics centre;
“In addition, we are establishing a National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, the first National ICT Park and have established a National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics”.
Technology Centres for Innovative Culture
He underlined the importance of the decision by the ministry to create an innovative culture among Nigerians at large and leverage on Blockchain technology;
“The primary objective of these is to create an atmosphere that would usher in innovation-driven culture among the Nigerian populace. We are also actively preparing to take advantage of Blockchain technologies for our digital economy, and we recently developed a National Blockchain Adoption Strategy”
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