Tijani explains re-launch of NCAIR as ex-minister claims legacy

Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, has explained the new functions and roles the re-launching of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) would bring to the country’s digital space.

The explanation came following claims by the immediate past minister of the ministry, Prof. Isa Pantami, that the NCAIR had been launched under President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

After the re-launch in Abuja at the weekend, Pantami tweeted on X: “The National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics has been built and commissioned in November 2020, almost four years ago.

“The first of its kind in Africa! It has been very effective, and thousands of Nigerians have been trained and trained. Legacy is achieved, not claimed.”

Pantami buttressed his claims with several pictures and reports of the launch on X, formerly Twitter.

The NCAIR is a special-purpose vehicle created to promote research and development on emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and UAV, Internet of Things (IoT) and their practical application in areas of Nigerian national interest.

Tijani had, at the weekend in Abuja, announced the relaunch of the NCAIR with the support of global tech company, Cisco, adding that the capacity of the Centre had been improved.

According to the minister, the goal of President Bola Tinubu administration is to strengthen the capacity of NCAIR to conduct Artificial Intelligence research, empower local researchers and startups, and strengthen the application of AI in government.

Bosun added: “To achieve these, here are some new initiatives we’ve introduced to support this re-launch:“NCAIR now has access to over 2,500 virtual CPUs for use by the Nigeria AI Collective. NCAIR is now connected to one petabyte of storage at GBB.

“NCAIR will manage the new computing infrastructure for projects of national interest and academic research. There is now a dedicated lab at NCAIR for state and enterprise AI research projects.”

He added: “NCAIR will allow AI hubs and pods across the country to connect remotely to the new computing infrastructure.

“In addition, NCAIR will now report and academically publish on all projects carried out at the institution,” Tijani said.

With the NCAIR ready to deliver, the minister announced other policy initiatives that formed outcomes of the Ministry’s National AI Workshop, including the launch of the country’s first Multilingual Large Language Model.

He disclosed that after the four-day of co-creation with over 120 Artificial Intelligence experts, the country not only had an initial draft of its National AI Strategy but also announced some significant developments and partnerships that would lead Nigeria towards accelerating the development of AI.