The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has urged government at all levels to scale up investments in ICT infrastructure so as to enhance, and encourage responsible utilization of ‘Artificial Intelligence
(AI )by the citizens for self -empowerment, and the well -being of the society.
This was just as the body however called on the Federal Government to put in place an adequate national policy, legislative, regulatory, and administrative instruments that would be all inclusive, and capable of guiding the deployment of AI for national development, especially, as it concerns the conduct of elections, and governance.
However,this was contained in a communique issued at the end
of 5th Kano Social Influencers Summit organized by CITAD) held on 18th to 19th of September, 2024, at Grand Central Hotel, Kano, Nigeria and jointly signed by Alhaji
Yunusa Zakari Ya`u,
Convener, KANSIS/Executive Director CITAD ,
Chiamama Okafor, E.D, MILID and
Professor Abdulhamid Abdullahi, ABU and a copy made available on Friday to press in Kano
The communique also called on governments at all levels to finetune their ICT policies in order to correct the issue of the observed ‘Gender Gap’, as well as take care of the interest of ‘People with Disabilities’, and other class of disadvantaged Nigerians.
It therefore urged the Federal Government to place for national debate on the National AI deployment framework
According to the summit ,”AI was not primarily designed to take jobs away from humans to machines, but a tool for enhancing job efficiency, and delivery, particularly in sectors such as: Media, Aesthetics and Arts, Business, and Governance.
It was also stated that the traditional rulers can enhance the administration of their communities, and improve the participation of their subject in peace-building processes, at the grassroot by leveraging on AI technology.
That there are wide gaps in terms of understanding the likely impacts of AI efforts at promoting inclusions
That AI had significantly improved communication and accessibility for individuals with hearing impairments, enhancing their quality of life, in the areas of speech recognition, sign language translation, and facilitated greater societal participation in election processes, and governance in Nigeria
But,however, observed that despite these advancements, challenges such as translation accuracy and the need for continuous algorithm updates persist.
That Nigerians need to scale up their knowledge, and skills in AI technology in order to be able to participate effectively in election processes, governance, as well as in boosting their engagement with government, shaping of public policies, and programmes, in their favour.
The summit emphasized that an appreciable adoption of technology is taking place within the governments of Kano, and Jigawa states, a development that is at improving public governance, and provision of job opportunities for young people in the two states, in the recent times.
Earlier,the Executive director CITAD
Alhaji Ya`u disclosed that the theme of summit, deliberately selected to coincide with the ongoing global discussions on the merits, and demerits of AI, in the context of national development, as it relates to Nigeria `s quest to nurture it nascent democracy, particularly as it concerns the strengthening election processes, and aspiration for good governance by Nigerians.
He added that of recent the issue of AI had been in the front burner in the global and national discourse, especially, as it concerns the usefulness or otherwise of the technology as it relates to the common day to day human interactions, and transactions notably in the areas of social, economy, and political.
Alhaji Ya`u described AI as a technology that involved heavy uses of data in conveying information which can be misused by those deploying it, adding that bias could be embedded in how AI algorithms are trained. Such bias arising from either selective and or incomplete dataset could also result in misrepresentation of facts, realities, and people.
He stated that while AI had been acknowledged to have tremendous potentials, this year’s summit was deliberately designed to explore the prevailing environment of it deployment in Nigeria, so as tocreate public awareness about it deployment and usage.
The ED concluded that the plenary sessions, and parallel panels were particularly designed to provide exhaustive exploration of the potentials, as well as the notable biases as it regards People with Disabilities in Nigeria, and to conceptualise national policies that will be all inclusive, and adequate to guide the nation`s development quest.
