NITRA ICT Growth Conference 4.0 Panelists Agree AI Would Create More Jobs Than Take Them

By Clifford Agugoesi, Editor-in-Chief

There are palpable fears artificial intelligence(AI) would lead to job losses, but rather than give in to such fears, AI is coming with opportunities for newer and more jobs than gut them.  This is the point that panelists at the NITRA ICT Growth Conference 4.0 unanimously shared with reporters Wednesday at the Citiheight Luxury Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, south west, of the country.

NITRA ICT Growth Conference 4.0 under the theme: “Impact of AI On National Development: Prospects, Policies, and Challenges in Nigeria”, was compered by Louisa Olaniyi  while the panel session was moderated by Hilary Damissah, both members of NITRA.

The panelists listing the Head of New Media at the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) Engr. Babagana Digima, Founder/CEO at Digital Encode, Prof. Adewale Obadare represented by Olukayode Olatunji, ICT Editor at Daily Independent, Justus Adejumo, NiRA President, Adesola Akinsanya,  represented by Head of Communications, NiRA, Peter Oluka, Co-Founder/CEO at NeuRal AI, Olusheyi Akindeinde, and Senior Project Engineer/Project Manager at Schneider Electric, Oluwatoni Olugbenga, were on the same page AI has come to stay and would not lead to job losses but create newer and more jobs.

From a policy perspective, Nigeria is embracing AI with a strategic vision. Alright.  Nigeria’s AI Policy is in development and almost at completion stage.  But from a regulatory standpoint, how proactive is the country in curtailing the side-effects of AI? According to Engr. Digima: “AI is new, has profound effects on our society.  AI has significant negative effects potentially.  As regulators, we look at the negatives and try to mitigate those.

“For instance, when we were about to implement 5G, we carried out studies that verified 5G was safe to adopt as a technology.”

There is this apprehension the advent of AI will erode some human factors. Is there cause for worry?  Mr. Olatunji admitted matter-of-factly that there had been some concerns in the past but presently “AI is a reality and an actuality…we need to prepare ourselves spiritually, emotionally and otherwise.  It is not a case of AI taking the job, but you getting out of the job.”

How well are the media playing their role as  middlemen between the proponents of AI and the consumers? According to Mr. Adejumo, NITRA ICT Growth 4.0 was a veritable platform to ready journalists to report…AI more authoritatively and objectively.  “We need as journalists,” he said “to be properly grounded on AI to report the subject matter much more convincingly.”

Do we have the requisite skills to adopt AI or do we need more internships? To Dr. Akindeinde, whose firm currently boasts two patents on AI, “We do not have the requisite skills. AI is a general purpose technology.  We need people to upskill for adoption to be seamless.

For the fact that technology precedes regulation, he advises that “regulation needs upskilling on AI. Yes, new technologies excite new jobs. Yes, AI will take some jobs away but will create brand new jobs as well.”

AI s data-driven, internet-centric.  How is NiRA posturing to ensure that local interests are factored into the scheme of things in the emerging technology? According to Mr. Oluka, we had been using AI without, perhaps, appreciating it, for instance in gmail as an application… “It is still garbage in, garbage out,” he opined. “NiRA s committed to the use of AI for National Interest.  It is for this reason it created a special purpose vehicle(SPV) namely the .NG Academy.” According to him, the major challenges to AI adoption are in dearth of skills and poor awareness creation.  “NiRA is following the National Direction on AI. We need to train our people and create awareness on the technology,” he added.

How do we leapfrog AI in solving Nigeria’s perennial energy challenges? To Mr. Olugbenga, the first approach is to emplace the right governance system.  “We need the right data quantity and quality, security and more.  When we have the right data, we can address the challenges in the energy sector.”

While explaining the rationale for the theme for this year’s conference, Chairman of NITRA, Chike Onwuegbuchi stated: “There has been a known trend in Nigerians adaptation of new technology, where usage is higher than implementation. For instance, we are number one in the usage of internet in Africa but lag in connectivity and internet penetration. Artificial Intelligence has followed the same trend, Google search trends reported recently that searches for artificial intelligence (AI) have continued to rise around the world, with Nigeria experiencing a 130 per cent increase in 2024.

“There has been a lot of discussions around fears of artificial Intelligence such as loss of jobs. What AI is not- over exaggerating what AI can do.

“Talk about the need to build a good foundation for AI integration into the economy through introduction in schools curriculum for us not to repeat the experience of computer science studies in the universities where students graduate without having hands-on computer.

“At the end of this forum we would like for relevant ICT stakeholders to collaborate with government agencies that design curricula for schools to ensure that the study of AI is included in secondary schools.” -With Additional Reporting By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West, Nigeria