Minister’s Week in Review

Last week’s (Apr. 2 – 5, 2024) recap of the activities of Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister for Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

INTRO?

In preparation for the upcoming National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop, I intensified engagements to sensitising the public and other stakeholders of the goals and objectives of the workshop and the opportunity it presents Nigeria to develop a comprehensive policy document guiding the use of the technology for inclusive growth.?

The workshop will bring together experts and international partners to co-create a comprehensive strategy, leveraging a human-centred design (HCD) approach to formulating a policy focused on the needs of Nigerian citizens.

KEY FOCUS

Artificial Intelligence for Development: I engaged key partners, experts, and stakeholders on the goals and objectives of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop scheduled for April 15 to 18, 2024. This formed the highlight of my media engagements, meetings with event partners including Luminate, and international development partners such as UNESCO.

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TIMELINE

Tuesday?

I resumed the work week by delivering a lecture to participants at the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), Abuja. In my presentation titled ‘Artificial Intelligence Deployment on Security and Emerging Economies: African Perspective’, I highlighted the opportunities, challenges, and solutions to issues that may arise through the use of Artificial Intelligence as it relates to crime prevention and safety.

I later joined a briefing from the Office for Nigerian Digital innovation (ONDI), led by its Acting National Coordinator, Yakubu Musa, who gave me a status update on the Nigeria Startup Portal scheduled to be launched later this month. I reviewed their presentation and highlighted specific sections of the Portal that require improvement for optimal user experience.

Following this, I met with a team from Nextwear Technologies led by Kemisola Bolarinwa, its Founder and Chief Executive Officer. They introduced their groundbreaking Cancer Detecting Bra while soliciting my support as they make efforts to make the invention available to the public.?

Wednesday

My day started with a meeting with representatives of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to solicit their partnership and support for the upcoming National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop. The UNESCO team led by Diallo Abdourahamane, Head of UNESCO Abuja Office, expressed commitment towards supporting the Ministry as we co-creates Nigeria’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy.?

Later that afternoon, I joined a webinar organised to engage with members of the Phase-1 3MTT Applied Learning Clusters. At the session, I thanked them for their remarkable work with our fellows and reassured them of my continued support towards the success of the programme.

After the webinar, I headed to the Presidential Villa to attend the inaugural meeting of the Technical Committee of the IDICE Programme under the Office of the Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima. The IDICE Programme is a collaborative effort between the government and international partners to nurture and empower enterprises in the digital and creative sectors.?

Thursday?

I had an early start at the iFAIR Israel – Nigeria 2023-2024 cohorts graduation ceremony where I spoke on the topic, ‘Nigeria’s Vision for Digital Entrepreneurship and Innovation’. There, I highlighted the importance of training technology talent and developing critical infrastructure to facilitate the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy. The ceremony was attended by notable personalities including the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman.

I then headed back to attend a virtual meeting with experts and stakeholders to brainstorm on the delivery of a foundational framework for developing the Nigeria Stack. The Stack is a set of technologies, tools, conventions, open standards, and frameworks that enable the effective and efficient implementation and delivery of services by the Government in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.

My next meeting was a session to discuss the upcoming National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop, with particular focus on communication strategy. The meeting was also attended by representatives of Luminate, a global foundation supporting the workshop.

I later took part in a follow-up meeting to discuss the details of Nigeria’s participation at the upcoming VivaTech 2024 event scheduled for May. VivaTech is an annual technology conference dedicated to connecting startups and investors. Present at the virtual meeting were representatives of VivaTech including Christian Strassburger, Chief Business Officer and Maud Lasfargues, AfricaTech & Middle East Manager.

Friday:?

I was a guest on Eye on Tech, an AriseTV programme anchored by Rotus Oddiri. There, I talked about the goals of the upcoming National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop, while also highlighting some of the Ministry’s initiatives in the area of Artificial Intelligence and the importance of the technology in accelerating the development of our economy

I then engaged in a session with the team from GSM Association (GSMA) where I provided high level feedback on the draft Digital Economy Report for Nigeria. A number of key themes from the report include the focus on Digitalisation by the Nigerian government and its role in growing our economy. We also discussed the related investment in digital infrastructure, enhanced policy initiatives and support for digital startups.?

Present at the meeting were Kamal Tamawa, Director, Spectrum & Industry Services; Caroline Mbugua, Senior Director, Public Policy and Communications, Sub Saharan Africa; and Mark Williams, Founder, Through Line Advisors.

My next meeting for the day was with Dr. Sam Faleye, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Saglev Inc. Our discussions centred on avenues of partnership and support for the electric mobility company in Nigeria.?

Following this, I had a virtual meeting with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The research team, which included Oluwatobi Oyinlola, discussed areas of support for the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme and other initiatives towards ensuring the growth of the hardware ecosystem in Nigeria.

My final meeting for the week was a virtual call with some Heads of Agencies under my Ministry to review the status of Project 774 LG Connectivity with a view to delivering on the goal of providing all 774 local government secretariats across Nigeria with Internet connectivity. Present at the meeting were Jane Egerton-Idehen, Managing Director/CEO, NigComSat; Adepoju Adeyanju, Managing Director/CEO, Galaxy Backbone; Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General, NITDA; and Yomi Arowosafe, Secretary, Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF). The project has covered 6 states and the FCT so far with more states to come.

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BLUEPRINT REVIEW

Last week, my activities focused on the Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Capital and Infrastructure pillar objectives of my Strategic Blueprint, as I engaged with a number of partners including Luminate and UNESCO towards developing a comprehensive national AI strategy for Nigeria.?

I also had a number of infrastructure related engagements including a review of the status of Project 774 LG Connectivity and deliberating on effective ways of accelerating its deployment across all Local Government Secretariats across the country for the benefit of Nigerians.