The Nigerian government has launched a new tech program to equip young people with the requisite skills and knowledge needed to thrive in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. The Communications and Digital Economy Minister, Bodun Tijani announced the new program tagged ”Deep Tech Ready”, as part of efforts to broaden the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) initiative of the government.
The new program is supported by Google as part of the company’s N2.8 billion grant to upskill young Nigerians in AI. It will involve a 6 months cohort program for fellows of the 3MTT initiative to acquire skills under various fields like Advanced Data Analysis and Visualization; Data Science/Machine Learning; Data Architecture; Geospatial Data Science; Computer Vision; Natural Language Processing; and Advanced Machine Learning Techniques.
The government is looking to provide 20,000 Nigerians with the required skills and advanced technical knowledge needed for a promising career in AI and Data Science. It will be facilitated by Data Science Nigeria with participants exposed to on site and online learning methods.
The Google AI fund initiative of N2.8 billion grant which was announced by the government in October last year, followed the initial N100 million given to the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) AI Fund.
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The Nigerian government’s recent thirst for AI development has generated reactions with some critics saying the anticipated result cannot be reached due to poor infrastructure, epileptic power supply and low internet access, all of which must be tackled before AI technology can be fully deployed.
