Minister’s Week in Review

Last week’s (September 9 – 14, 2024) recap of the activities of Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister for Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

INTRO 

From September 2-6, 2024, I was in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s delegation to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit in Beijing, where we had high-level discussions with our Chinese counterparts towards deepening relationships between both countries, and also took a tour of Chinese technology companies such as Huawei Technologies and DJI.

Back in Nigeria, I attended the ‘Global Inclusivity and AI: Africa’ conference which is focused on fostering inclusive, ethical, and innovative AI development across the continent towards improving lives and driving economic growth. The conference, which was attended by Dr. Seth Center, U.S. Acting Special Envoy, included participation from organisations such as USAID, USTDA, and the U.S. AI Safety Institute.

KEY FOCUS

Innovation: As we work towards positioning the country as a leading nation in Africa for the development of AI, Nigeria hosted the ‘Global Inclusivity and AI: Africa’ conference which is focused on fostering inclusive, ethical, and innovative AI development across the continent. The conference was an opportunity to further highlight the importance of harnessing the power of AI for good while mitigating its risks.

Infrastructure: Noting that infrastructure development is a critical factor in ensuring the accelerated growth of our digital economy, I met with Guangzhe Chen, Vice President, Infrastructure, World Bank, and his team to discuss details of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) approved by the President to deliver additional 90,000km of fibre-optic cable across the country to complement existing connectivity for universal access to the internet.

TIMELINE

Monday

I started the week by giving a keynote address at the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS) Stakeholders Engagement, organised to receive and collate inputs from Heads of ICT of various organisations in government to be incorporated into the final draft of the NAIS document. This will serve to ensure that the resulting document accurately reflects the collective input and priorities of all stakeholders.

Next was a briefing meeting with Dr. Salisu Dasuki, Senior Special Assistant to Vice President Kashim Shettima, to discuss plans ahead of a scheduled visit of the Vice President to Sweden.

Later, I met with representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to continue our ongoing conversations regarding the development of a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Centre in Abuja. 

The UNDP team present at the meeting were Peter Kahiigi, Digital Transformation Advisor, UNDP Nigeria; ‘Toyin Bamidele, Digital Innovation Officer, UNDP Nigeria; Sylvia Nakanwagi, UNDP Uganda; and Vivian Ddambya, Digital Transformation Lead, UNDP Uganda.

Tuesday

I travelled to Lagos to attend the ‘Global Inclusivity and AI: Africa’ conference which seeks to enrich the global discourse around Artificial Intelligence (AI), and increase the alignment of Nigeria and countries across Africa in their approach to AI governance in relation to that of the United States.

At the conference, I expressed Nigeria’s commitment towards partnering with the U.S. in our ongoing efforts to leverage future technologies to promote innovation, enhance productivity, and ensure prosperity for all.

The event was attended by a diverse array of stakeholders including Dr. Seth Center, Acting Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, U.S. Department of State, and Joy Basu, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, U.S. Department of State.

On the sidelines of the ‘Global Inclusivity and AI: Africa’ conference, I announced the collaboration between the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and Google to set up an AI Fund aimed at supporting Nigerian startups leveraging AI to build innovative solutions.

While in Lagos, I also had a bilateral meeting with Dr. Seth Center and his team, to explore areas of partnership between our nations as Nigeria assumes a leading role on the continent in shaping the future of AI and other emerging technologies.  

Back in Abuja, I had a meeting with Kofo Akinkugbe, CEO, SecureID to discuss the digital solutions company’s proposed partnership with our 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme.

Wednesday

I received in my office representatives of SAP to explore areas of collaboration in capacity building, infrastructure development, and innovation, particularly in future technologies such as AI.  

The SAP team was represented by Johannes Dressler, Vice President, Chief Business Officer, MEA South, and Aderinola Oloruntoye, Senior Industry Value Advisor, Africa.

After this, I had an extended meeting with representatives of the World Bank Group including Guangzhe Chen, Vice President, Infrastructure, World Bank; Franz Drees-Gross, Director of Infrastructure, West Africa, World Bank; Ndiame Diop, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria; and Jana Kunicova, Practice Manager, Digital Development, World Bank among others.

We discussed our ongoing cooperation on a number of projects, including the rollout of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) targeted at delivering an additional 90,000km of fibre-optic cable across Nigeria, addressing the challenge of non-consumption faced by telecoms sector operators. 

The World Bank team restated their commitment to support the Ministry in securing resources and investing in the $2billion Fibre Fund project to ensure enhanced internet infrastructure and spur economic growth.

Thursday

On Thursday, I travelled to Maceio, Brazil to attend the G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) Meeting. The meeting underscores the importance of fostering an enabling, inclusive, open, fair, and secure digital economy that prioritises human-centred development while ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights. 

Friday 

I delivered a speech at the G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) Meeting, highlighting our strategic initiatives in promoting data protection/privacy, sovereignty and security, capacity building, and future technologies such as AI, all geared at accelerating Nigeria’s digital economy and driving shared prosperity. 

I also had bilateral meetings with my counterparts from Japan, South Africa, and others to discuss potential areas of collaboration in design technology, AI, robotics, DPI, and data exchange.

While in Brazil, we announced the Ministry-organised stakeholder engagement event scheduled to take place on September 20th on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The event will serve as a platform to showcase our progress and achievements over the past year, and highlight plans for the immediate future based on our Strategic Blueprint.   

We also made public members of the Advisory Committee of the Nigerian Web Design Standard (NWDS) project, who will help to create a set of standardised design principles, frameworks, and guidelines for all government websites. 

Members include Kene Udeze, Senior Product Designer, IKEA; Ibrahim Bashir, Business Analyst, Bolt, and Partner/Founder, Dillali Technology; Mitchelle Chibundu, Founder, Designer Babe; and Clive Ayonye, Senior Product Designer, META.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            BLUEPRINT REVIEW

My activities focused on the Infrastructure and Innovation pillars of our Strategic Blueprint as I engaged with representatives of the World Bank Group led by Guangzhe Chen, Vice President, Infrastructure, to discuss their support for Ministry’s initiatives, particularly our efforts to raise the estimated $2billion Fibre Fund needed to extend Nigeria’s fibre-optic cable connectivity to unserved and underserved communities across the country.

I also engaged with partners and stakeholders at the Global Inclusivity and AI: Africa conference in Lagos and G20 Digital Economy Working Group Meeting in Maceio, Brazil, to highlight the progress of our strategic initiatives towards accelerating the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy.