Science & Tech
FG Directs NCC to Issue Research Grants on Artificial Intelligence
The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, has directed the National Communications Commission (NCC), to provide grants for tertiary institutions to enhance research on robotics and emerging technologies.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isah Pantami, disclosed this during the International Conference on Computing and Advances in Information Technology, organised by Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria on Tuesday.
The three-day conference which was organised by the Department of Computer Science of the institution, has “Fostering Digital Economy Through Recent Trends in Information Technology’’ as its theme.
Pantami said the ministry was passionate about supporting emerging technologies in the area of 5G, artificial intelligence, robotics and many more.
To achieve this, the minister said he directed the NCC to come up with research grants that would be given to higher institutions to partake on research in emerging technology.
He said there was a meeting about three weeks ago to review proposals sent by academics in order to see how the Federal Government would support them with research grants in the area of emerging technologies.
According to Pantami, there is a research grant under the National Information Technology Development Agency, where the Federal Government sponsors young academics to higher institutions abroad.
He said all these initiatives were to support digital economy of the country.
The minister noted that according to the world economic forum, as at 2016, the global contributions of ICT to economic development stands at 16 per cent, and the figure has been predicted to reach 50 per cent by 2022.
He added that the world economic forum had also predicted that by 2022, 132 million jobs would be created within the digital economy sector.
Pantami further noted that the global economy had been digitalised; new opportunities were coming up, particularly with the emergence of the disruptive technology like artificial intelligence, robotics, 5G, quantum computing, virtual realities and many more.
“All these aspects of emerging technologies come up with new opportunities that make ICT to dominate the world economy; as it is today, ICT was a key enabler to the growth and development of the world economy,’’ the minister said.
He added that the trend was the same in Nigeria, as in 2020 the National Bureau of Statistics said the fastest growing sector of Nigerian economy was the ICT.
“In the first quarter of 2021, the fastest growing economy in the country was ICT, in the second quarter of 2021, the contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 17.92 per cent,’’ he said.
He, therefore, attributed the unprecedented ICT’s contribution to GDP on policies of the ministry, stressing that within two years the ministry with its agencies came up with 16 national policies.
He added that of the 16 developed national policies, more than a dozen were being implemented, like the `National Digital Economy Policy Strategy for a Digital Nigeria”, which he described as the umbrella policy upon which other policies were developed.
Pantami said the ministry was coming up with subsidiary legislations and regulatory instruments to support the development of ICT sector in the country.
In his remarks, Prof Kabiru Bala, Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, said the conference was in line with the university’s efforts aimed at reviving the long standing academic and stakeholders’ engagement.
Bala said that the academic and stakeholders’ engagement was aimed at boosting awareness creation, knowledge sharing and influencing national and international policy formulations.
The vice-chancellor said the international conference on computing and advances in information technology with a theme “fostering digital economy through recent trends in information technology’’ was relevant and timely.
“The digital economy is an economy which operates predominantly with the help of digital technology. It implies the global network of economic activities processes, transactions and interactions among people, businesses and devices among others supported by ICT
“The digital economy permeates the world economy; information was flowing within and across borders with unprecedented volumes, with significant impact on innovation, trades, global value chain and society; while few aspects of our life remained untouched by digitalisation,” Bala said.
He noted that “emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and cloud computing, among others led to breakthroughs that characterised our world today; this conference is therefore relevant and timely.” (NAN)
Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, on Friday visited the inmates of Nigerian Correctional Service, Kuje to commemorate 72nd birthday of President Bola Tinubu.
The minister, who was represented by his aide, Nafisa Bello, said the visit was to celebrate President’s birthday with inmates by providing them packs of food to put smile on their faces.
Tijani, who wished the President a happy birthday, said the gesture was a way of commending the President’s resilience, pragmatic leadership and commitment to service.
He said even though the president had instructed that no one should organise a birthday party or place any birthday goodwill advertorial messages in newspapers, it was a special day.
“We are here to celebrate President Bola Tinubu’s 72nd birthday and share love with the inmates. We have distributed food packs, we have met and had good conversations with some of them.
“We wish the president a happy birthday, long life and property,” minister said.
One of the inmate, Chiwendu Hart, who spoke on behalf of all the inmates described the gesture as an act of love, adding that they were not in the correctional service for punishment but correction.
He thanked the Federal Government and the correctional officers for rehabilitating and integrating the inmates to come out and live a crime free life.
According to him, the Nigerian Correctional Service has set up degree courses, ran by the National Open University (NOUN) and some skills to keep the inmates busy while undergoing trials.
He said that he had graduated and had a Masters in theology and waiting to enroll for his PhD.
“I am a beneficiary of NOUN, I came here with secondary school certificate but today, I am a graduate and have my Masters in theology.
“Even if after you leave the correctional centre, you can still come back and finish up the courses or the skills you started with.
“Once we leave here, we will go out there and explore what we have learnt in order to live a good life.”
He urged the Federal Government to equip some of the vocational programmes with study materials, tailoring machines, carpentry and shoe making tools.
He wished the President a happy birthday. (NAN)
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) says it will sustain the engagement of journalists for continuous propagation of data privacy and protection message.
The National Commissioner of NDPC, Dr Vincent Olatunji, communicated this when he received officials of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) on Monday in Abuja.
Olatunji recognised that times were changing; hence journalists needed to be abreast with the dynamism in the data privacy and protection ecosystem.
He said the media had remained a great asset towards nation building and continuous engagement would ensure that they played their role maximally.
“We are aware of the freedom of expression granted to you the press by the constitution, but we felt that it is important to train you to understand that part.
“I see this collaboration as a continuous thing, more importantly, now everything is changing, we need to deepen your knowledge on data privacy.
“We cannot do awareness under this building; we need media to assist us to disseminate this information so that people can comply with the data protection policies.’’
He said that the commission was collaborating with relevant institutions in ensuring that data privacy and protection policies were adhered to.
Olatunji said that the commission was working with Committee of Vice Chancellors to further deepen knowledge about data protection.
“We are also working with National Board for Technology Education for Polytechnics and others.
“All these efforts are geared towards ensuring that the message of data protection is spread and there is virtually nothing we can do without you.’’
The national commissioner encouraged NITRA members to pursue training as certified Data Protection Officers, adding that it was a lucrative area with readily available jobs.
According to him, when the training is combined it with knowledge of journalism, there is more advantage more than other data processing officers.
“It is a huge ecosystem that has something for everybody to benefit; so, we need to collaborate and ensure you catch up with the changes in data privacy ecosystem,’’ he said.
Mr Babatunde Bamigboye, Head, Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, NDPC, said many data controllers continuously breached data rights of citizens unknowingly.
Bamigboye, however, said that in spite the need for freedom of speech, there was the place of privacy and rights of the people, which the commission was committed to.
He told the journalists that it was important to learn some emerging ethics that would aid balancing the rights and privacy of individuals while reporting.
President of NITRA, Mr Blessing Olaifa, congratulated Olatunji on the adoption of Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, adding that it had empowered the commission to enforce data protection in Nigeria.
“We congratulate you on your appointment by the President Bola Tinubu; it is a measure of your hard work and tenacity for the industry growth.
‘We also congratulate you on the passage of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023; that has given you the impetus to operate in a way that people are now aware of data.
‘Before now, people were not much familiar and interested in data, some thought it was only data in their phones, but they are aware about information they give about themselves to institutions,’’ she said.
Olaifa, while commending the NDPC on its drive towards engaging the media in its activities, said it was necessary consolidating on the collaboration for more results.
“This is in view of the fact that the sector is dynamic and we need more capacity building to fine-tune our knowledge and upscale our skills while reporting,’’ he said. (NAN
The African Union, Scientific, Technical and Research Commission (AU-STRC), African Scientific Research and Innovation Council (AU-ASRIC) have partnered with African Liver Patient Association (ALPA) to offer free hepatitis treatment to Nasarawa State indigenes.
The Senior Scientific Officer of AU-STRC, Dr Mohammed Kyari, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Model Comprehensive Health Centre, Shabu, Lafia.
Kyari said that the project targeted a total of 3000 persons to benefit from the free hepatitis care, tests and treatment in Shabu, Lafia.
He said the project followed a sensitization and education of communities at all levels including testing which was targeted at the age group 12-80 years old.
Kyari added that the project was a build up from the research conducted by the AU- STRC and ASRIC from 2018 to date with a priority area on “prevention and control of diseases”.
“ The hepatitis testing using the serological rapid diagnostic tests with results in 15 minutes and treatment will commence immediately for positive cases,” he said.
According to him, vaccination will be administered on those that are negative, then further testing will be administered on those tested positive through a viral load confirmation.
Kyari also said that the treatment would focus more on the elimination of mother to child transmission and timely administration of birth dose vaccines for newborns and also by raising awareness.
He added that the project was a pilot phase on the implementation of the ASRIC Flagship Project on Village free of Hepatitis in Nasarawa State, which will hold from the 6th -20th December, 2023.
“ The project is also in line with the implementation of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024) pillar on building technical and professional competencies.” Kyari said.
NAN monitored events at the Model comprehensive health centre, Shabu, which is the location of the hepatitis free village in Lafia, Nasarawa State and the theme is “ Hepatitis Free Village”..
NAN also reports that there are a total of seven Egyptian doctors on site attending to the residents of Shabu community and about 2500 persons have since benefited from free treatment by receiving free drugs and vaccination.
Among the medical personnel from the Egyptian Liver Research Institute and Hospital (ELRIAH) working on hepatitis eradication in Lafia are Dr. Ahmed Salem, Dr. Ayman Abdelfattah and Prof. Ahmed Farahat (NAN)
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