Nigeria to Open AI, Blockchain Research Centers Nationwide

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) of Nigeria plans to establish research centers on AI, IoT, and blockchain across the country’s six geopolitical zones

Kashifu Inuwa, the Director-General of NITDA, announced this initiative at the IoT West Africa Conference in Lagos, as reported by local media. Aristotle Onumo, NITDA’s Director of Corporate Planning and Strategy, underscored the agency’s dedication to establishing a robust technology research ecosystem on behalf of Inuwa.

The establishment of research centers to stimulate innovation

The planned research centers will focus on critical areas, such as IoT, blockchain technology, uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), additive manufacturing, AI, and robotics. Inuwa stated:

We are establishing a special-purpose vehicle to investigate these critical areas and develop research centers in Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. These centers will focus on the six major emergent technologies.

NITDA’s objective is to assist Nigerian startups in developing products that utilize these emergent technologies and provide funding for research. The agency intends to establish innovation sandboxes to help entrepreneurs develop use cases, establish businesses, and introduce their products to the market.

NITDA is also instrumental in developing talent through the Nigerian government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) initiative. The objective is to guarantee that three million Nigerians will have received technical training and empowerment by 2027.

The next Silicon Valley in Africa

Inuwa acknowledged that the departure of specifically trained individuals from the country could contribute to Nigeria’s talent exports and increase foreign exchange through increased remittances.

Nigeria’s potential as “Africa’s next Silicon Valley” was underscored by Shitij Taneja, the Managing Director of Vertex Next, the coordinator of the IoT West Africa conference.

He identified the country’s extensive adolescent population and dynamic startup ecosystem as critical factors. The conference’s objective, which is in conjunction with Africa Data Center and Cloud Expo Africa, is to attract investors to Nigerian enterprises that specialize in emerging technologies.

Nigeria and the United States have recently expressed their desire to engage in discussions regarding the digital economy, emergent technology, and AI to investigate potential partnership opportunities.

These discussions aim to fortify economic connections between the two nations and encourage more extensive collaborations in these sectors.

To assume a leadership role in developing artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa, the Nigerian government has also implemented its initial multilingual large language model (LLM).