NITRA ICT Growth Conference Harps on Positive Use of AI

The ICT Growth Conference, which held in Lagos on Wednesday, and organised by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), has stressed the need for positive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in order to enable Nigerians benefit from the gains of emerging technologies.

During a thought provoking panel session, which featured regulators, policy makers, industry stakeholders and cyber security experts, the panelists had an in-depth discussion about the prospects of AI and the challenges.

In his presentation, Mr.  Oluwatoni Olugbenga, stated that AI would continue to change the country’s educational system and its prospects in terms of Agriculture business and energy. He however explained that Nigerian schools do not have the right quality gadgets like computers to leverage the benefits of AI.

According to him, Nigeria is still far behind in the area of infrastructure, but he explained that the country can start by educating people on how to use AI positively by ensuring that the massive youth population has to be in tune with technology and AI.

Mr. Peter Oluka, who represented the President of Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), commended NITRA for organising the ICT Growth Conference. According to him, the digital economy is no longer just to foster but it has become the backbone of innovation contributing more than 40 per cen of our country’s GDP. He emphasised that the vision of NIRA has always been to secure trusted online presence for Nigerians.

“The .ng domain, which NiRA has managed over the years, is not just a symbol of national identity but also a means to achieve digital transformation in Nigeria. As at August 27th 2024, NIRA recorded 259,596.000 .ng domain name registration, Oluka said.

The Chairman of NITRA, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, in his opening speech at the conference titled “Impact of AI On National Development: Prospects, Policies And Challenges In Nigeria”, said the fear and lack of understanding of Artificial intelligence (AI), initiated the need to organise the event to educate members on the importance of AI and it’s motivation for national development.