By Biodun Adeleke
In August 2024, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy of Nigeria unveiled a draft of its very first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
The government intends to utilize the strategy in the positioning of the country for leadership in AI, with the improvement of sustainable development through ethical innovation. It has been co-created by NCAIR and NITDA with active contribution from several private sector stakeholders.
Key Pillars of the National AI Strategy
Infrastructure Creation: The strategy identified a strong infrastructure base for the development of AI, including investment in AI-specific hardware and software. It advocates for clean energy-powered AI clusters and offers tax incentives to stimulate private sector investment in critical AI infrastructure, such as high-performance computing centers.
Eco-system Building: This would need a strong ecosystem and collaborations among academia and industry. The approach has aimed at developing sustainable collaborations and nurturing the culture of innovation in order to facilitate mass adoption of AI across different sectors.
Ethical Framework: NAIS realizes the transformative force of AI and, therefore, proposed an overarching ethics framework. This would involve the establishment of an AI Ethics Expert Group for the leadership of the guidelines with respect to ethics in tune with the values of the people of Nigeria: fairness, transparency, accountability, privacy, and human flourishing.
Governance: The strategy identifies a need for governance principles that are to be clear for the responsible development of AI. This means setting up the National AI Principles that capture the very core values of Nigeria, bringing in an independent regulator that could enforce ethical standards and advice on any issues relating to AI.
Risk Management: It will also establish a National AI Risk Management Framework for identifying and mitigating potential safety and security-related risks of the AI systems.
Challenges and Considerations
While comprehensive, the NAIS has yet to articulate in detail implementation timelines, milestones, and funding sources for a number of its proposed initiatives. These deficiencies are expected to be detailed in the final version of the policy that will provide actionable outcomes for Nigeria’s AI future.
