Minister, NCC, NITDA visit Sweden, hold talks on innovation, research connectivity

The Nigerian Government has stressed its readiness to deepen collaboration and partnership with various governments across the globe, particularly the private and public sector to promote innovation, research, connectivity and digital technology in order to accelerate the growth of the Nigeria Digital Economy.

This was revealed last weekend by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. ’Bosun Tijani.

Dr. Tijani was in Stockholm, Sweden with key government officials in the communication and technology sector where they held “constructive discussions”, with Swedish government officials and private sector people.

Tijani disclosed the country’s Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and its agencies, in the last eight months, has placed much emphasis on four of the five pillars in the FMCIDE’s Strategic Blueprint launched last year.

The Minister stressed that the efforts have resulted in laying “the foundation for us to activate initiatives under our Trade pillar.”

On Nigerian team’s trip to Sweden, he also noted that their visit was on the invitation of Annika Hahn-Englund, Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria.

Sweden is world’s second largest concentration of unicorns: Dr. Tijani

Tijani affirmed that the team was in Stockholm for few days, and said that they were “in a series of constructive discussions with Swedish government officials and private sector to deepen our already strong relationship with Sweden as their second largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The Minister further noted: “Sweden is home to the second largest concentration of unicorns in the world and boasts a strong heritage of innovation.

“So, there is a lot of opportunity for collaboration and support for our initiatives in innovation, research, connectivity and digital technology as we work to accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy.”

Tijani, in a blog note, as well commended the hosts from Team Sweden, led by Johann Forsell, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, for the invitation, and to all members of Business Sweden for their hospitality.

“We look forward to the next steps as we collaborate, and leave you with the very warm weather which we brought from Nigeria,” he added.

Nigeria’s initial draft of ‘National AI Strategy’ ready, says Minister

Earlier, Dr. Tijani had announced that the West African country made considerable strikes in its drive to adopt and maximise the benefits of AI.

Following a week of co-creation with over 120 Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts, the Minister disclosed “we not only have an initial draft of our National AI Strategy, we also announced some significant developments and partnerships that will lead us towards accelerating the development of AI in Nigeria.”

He equally announced the launch of the Nigeria AI Collective, described as “a community of practice collaborating towards accelerating our collective prosperity through an inclusive AI Ecosystem.”

According to him, the Nigeria Collective, sponsored by Luminate would be hosted by NCAIR Nigeria and managed by Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, DSNai – Data Science Nigeria and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.

“We are inviting AI researchers, practitioners, academia, government, civil society organisations, startups, entrepreneurs, students and AI enthusiasts in general to join the collective at this link b.link/AICollective to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence,” the Minister stated.

Tijani took the opportunity to announce the re-launch of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), in Nigeria, with improved capacity with the support of Cisco.

The Minister said of the efforts: “National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics is first of its kind in Africa, special purpose vehicle created to promote research and development on emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and UAV, Internet of Things (IoT) and their practical application in areas of Nigerian national interest.

“The improved capacity at NCAIR will help it better fulfill its mandate as a digital innovation and research facility.”

He also thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for “the support and encouragement to chart this course. His vision and desire for a truly inclusive digital economy has been a significant motivation for us.”

Dr. Tijani commended over 120 participants, and all the partners, agencies and facilitators who contributed to the success of the workshop, and for supporting our Artificial Intelligence journey in Nigeria.

“I also want to truly appreciate the media who have been extremely supportive in shaping our narrative,” he said.