Nigeria Receives $3.5M Funding to Democratize AI and Accelerate Economic Diversification

Nigeria's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy has received a significant boost with $3.5 million in seed funding from local and foreign partners, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNESCO, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Luminate. The funding aims to make AI accessible to all and accelerate Nigeria's economic diversification.

The program, led by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, will be implemented by the Lagos Business School and NITDA-led AI Collective for Growth program over the next three years. The partners have committed to providing funds and resources to support the development and deployment of AI in Nigeria, with the goal of preparing the country and its people for the future.

Dr. Bosun Tijani, the coordinating minister, emphasized the importance of having a strategy in place to get Nigeria's people ready for the future. "With the current administration, Nigeria can fund and invest in deep infrastructure to support the AI strategy," he stated.

Why this matters: The funding and support for Nigeria's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy indicate a significant move towards positioning the country as a leader in AI adoption and development in Africa. The democratization of AI and its integration into various sectors have the potential to accelerate Nigeria's economic diversification and drive sustainable growth.

As part of the strategy, Nigeria is set to launch its first Multilingual Large Language Model (LLM) through a partnership between Warritech, DataDot.Org, NITDA Nigeria, and NCAIR Nigeria. The LLM will be trained on 5 low-resource languages and accented English to improve language representation in current datasets. Over 7,000 fellows from the 3MTTN Nigeria program will support the project.

The U.S. and Nigeria are also set to discuss the digital economy, emerging technology, and the development and implementation of AI, with high-level U.S. government officials visiting Abuja for a conference under the U.S.-Nigeria Bi-National Commission. The U.S. government has pledged to work with Nigeria as equal partners to deliver on talent development, infrastructure, and research, to innovation.

Mallam Abdullahi, the Director General of NITDA, expressed optimism that the strategy will lay a foundation and help Nigeria achieve its blueprints, as well as support the president's priority areas. The funding and the upcoming National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop scheduled for April 15-18, 2024, are part of Nigeria's efforts to become an active player in the global AI race and leverage the technology for economic development.

Key Takeaways

• Nigeria's National AI Strategy receives $3.5M in seed funding from global partners.
• The strategy aims to make AI accessible and drive economic diversification in Nigeria.
• Nigeria to launch its first Multilingual Large Language Model to improve language representation.
• U.S. and Nigeria to discuss digital economy, emerging tech, and AI development.
• Nigeria's AI strategy workshop in April 2024 to position the country as a global AI player.