Years after continuous planning, Nigeria has finally launched its first humanoid robot, which has also been recognized as the first in Africa. Launched by the country’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, he noted that the Federal Government was committed to intensifying its efforts as to harnessing the numerous talented Nigerian youths in the Artificial Intelligence sector to enhance the country’s national and economic development. This was disclosed during the launch of the humanoid robot by the UNICCON group of companies, with the event themed, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in African Tech Ecosystem”.
V.P. Osinbajo stated that the imminent success of Omeife was a clear indication of the huge strides that Nigerian youths were taking in AI development as well as other technological innovations and as such, pointed that the Federal Government was in full support of this development which is poised to immensely contribute to the fight against insecurity and improvement of the national development. He indicated that the government was working to develop a national data strategy for the availability of data for scientific usage.
FG devising strategies to ensure responsible technology.
He also noted that it was hugely important to encourage indigenous technological innovations by creating a conducive ambience for technological development and making available, needed data for artificial intelligence for decision making that would improve the country’s situation. In a bid to achieve overt success in the artificial intelligence industry, V.P. Osinbajo stated that the government was making efforts to expand its mandate to further include more initiatives such as the broadband that will help in connecting the unconnected.
The Vice President disclosed that Federal Government was devising different strategies and regulatory frameworks to ensure the presence of responsible technology. He said what was most important was maximizing the efficiency of the sector, for the improvement of lives of every citizen in accordance with the data available to it. Represented by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, V.P. Osinbajo, pointed out that technology, when left unchecked could be a double-edged sword and thus, the reason for the government’s necessary measures to protect the Nigerian populace from any misuse.
Artificial Intelligence, applicable for use in every human endeavor.
The Director General of the National Information Technology Development and Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi expounded on some poignant and beneficial importance of artificial intelligence to national development. He pointed out that robots could be very useful in the construction of roads, for farming, teaching in classes, gathering of intelligence and also curbing insecurity in the country. Pantami however indicated that Nigeria was working to launch an innovation centre to enhance the youth’s artificial intelligence capabilities.
Chuks Ekwueme, the Chairman of UNICCON Group explained that as an AI, Omeife was applicable for use in every aspect of human endeavors, a due to the fact that it is powered by data that gives it the capability of near human semblance per language, competency, navigation and behavioral tendencies using AI vision capacities. He noted that the motivation for Omeife was as a result of Africa’s recurrent lagging in the area of technology and thus, it was designed to bridge the technology gap in Africa by meeting the needs of Nigerians and Africans at large.
Omeife posed to bring immense value by improving Nigeria’s security.
He stated again that this technological innovation was posed to bring immense value by improving the security efficiency in the country when used for surveillance, intelligence gathering and robo-army purposes. He also stated that subsequently, products that will roll out from the Omeife initiative would range from Omeife as a service, Omeife hardware and Omeife humanoid robot which is projected to have a market revenue of about 6.8 billion dollars across the African market and globally.
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