The Many Struggles Of The AI Space in Nigeria and The Lessons from Mauritius
The Many Struggles Of The AI Space in Nigeria and The Lessons from Mauritius
Strangely, a concept as widely discussed as Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be restricted to a small number of individuals and startups in practice. Nowadays, it is common to attend lectures and seminars where Artificial Intelligence is discussed. Unfortunately, its actual application is so concentrated that it is on the verge of vanishing into nothingness.
By 2030, artificial intelligence is expected to add $15 trillion to the global economy. Nigeria is hardly positioned to benefit from this bounty.
Consider Indicina Technologies, a company founded on artificial intelligence that develops loan life cycle management software for banks and financial institutions.
This startup, founded in 2017, has raised only $250,000 in funding. However, this is superior to Slatecube, a remote internship platform for students. This startup, founded in 2014, has raised only $40,000 in funding.
In Nigeria, artificial intelligence startups receive scant funding. However, platforms such as Data Science Nigeria (DSN) have been instrumental in grooming young artificial intelligence innovators.
Apart from startups, businesses and organizations that have openly indicated an interest in applying AI to their daily operations have not grown significantly. Few enough for Idehen Kelly Osahen, Founder and CEO of LinkOrion Technology, succinctly conclude that there is little progress being made in Nigeria in terms of AI development.
Artificial Intelligence and the many devils it must overcome
As an innovative technology, the barriers to AI adoption are expected to be very traditional.
The first is a lack of interest in key players in Nigeria's leadership and regulatory spaces. This disinterest may be beneficial for the time because, as we have seen, any technology in which the government has demonstrated interest has been stifled.
Nonetheless, Nigeria is ranked 138th globally and 25th in Africa on Oxford Insights' Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index 2020. Additionally, the report highlights governments' capacity to capitalize on the innovative potential of Articial Intelligence. The Nigeria score of 30.8 is a far cry from Mauritius, Africa's top-ranked country, which scored 53.86, and is almost insignificant compared to the USA's 85.4.
However, perhaps the most significant issue confronting the AI space in Nigeria, and indeed throughout Africa, is digitized data. With the majority, if not all, pertinent public and organizational data still stored in hard copies, it would be extremely difficult for AI to take flight from that springboard.
Digitized data is the engine that powers Artificial Intelligence, and to propel the technology forward, a greater emphasis on data automation is required.
Another long-standing issue is the fear of losing certain jobs. Jobs with a high degree of repetition would undoubtedly be at risk. Many jobs in this industry fall into this category. In an African continent where governments pride themselves on job creation, losing so many jobs to 'machines' hardly qualifies as good governance.
As a result, AI appears to be a bad idea.
Additionally, given the availability of cheap labor in Nigeria, many organizations still believe that hiring actual humans to perform tasks is less expensive than paying for technology.
Lessons from Mauritius
As is the case with most things in Africa, resolving the AI problem requires a deliberate and intentional government strategy.
It seems almost Sub-Saharan Africa has a more comprehensive strategy than Mauritius, whose government published an Artificial Intelligence Strategy in 2018.
After witnessing the manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP declined from 18% to 13% in ten years, the strategy shifted its focus to AI and developers with solutions that reduce costs, eliminate defects, and increase production speed.
The strategy reinforced the granting of an eight-year tax exemption to businesses engaged in innovation-related activities for intellectual property assets developed in Mauritius.
With over 500,000 vehicles and a population of 1.2 million, nearly one car is for every two people. It shows that there is a problem with transportation congestion. According to the most recent count, Nigeria has 11.8 million cars for a population of 200 million. That equates to one car for every sixteen people. Thus, the country intended to implement AI to aid in the prediction of traffic problems.
Mauritius, like Nigeria, has an ocean economy. As a result, the plan prioritized developing the maritime internet of things, unlocking blue biotechnology, smart ports, maritime efficiency, wisdom navigation, deep-sea exploration, and the Digital Ocean Towards Intelligence.
However, none of this is possible without digitizing data and converting it to machine-readable formats such as XLS, CSV, JSON, and XML.
Developing The Algorithms Necessary for AI to Function
These are the formats for developing the algorithms necessary for AI to function.
It is too early to be assessing the impact of the Mauritius AI plan because it is a long-term strategy and the pandemic effectively wiped out 2020, it is worth noting that the country that was ranked third in Africa and sixty-fifth in the world in 2019 rose to first in Africa and 45th in the world by 2020. It demonstrates how far the AI landscape has come in a single year.
Experts in the country are extremely optimistic about the country's future success. Dr. Oomesh Gukhool, Senior Lecturer, believes it will significantly impact manufacturing productivity, transportation, the development of smart cities, efficient governance, and the country's transformation into a technology hub.
Indeed, the enormous potential in this space has resulted in an influx of global new technology firms. NeuroMem Technologies is one of them, having launched in 2019. Professor Pierre Brunswick, NeuroMem's CEO, stated the following about the company's presence in the Island country:
“We are delighted to announce our presence in Mauritius and delighted to support the country's future vision. Our mandate is to assist the country in developing its AI ecosystem by attracting the necessary international players and talent to educate, train, and assist Mauritian entrepreneurs in establishing a robust AI ecosystem capable of serving not only Mauritius, but also Sub-Saharan Africa.”
The World Artificial Intelligence Show was held in the country last year due to the impressive strides the country has made in a short period. High-level delegates from Huawei, Spark Cognition, the United States of America, the United Nations, and Nadia Thalmann, creator of the world's most human-like robot, were in attendance.
Bringing It Home…
Nigeria and Mauritius have a lot in common, particularly in the manufacturing, ocean economy, and transportation sectors. Additionally, Mauritius has demonstrated a clear and workable strategy for innovation in critical sectors through the AI plan.
Nigeria dropped from 16th in Africa and 107th in the world in 2019 to 25th in Africa and 138th in the world in 2020, according to the Government Readiness Report for 2019 and 2020. (2020). It demonstrates unequivocally that the rest of the world and Africa are abandoning the country. Thus, the Nigerian government must urgently develop an Artificial Intelligence roadmap.
Additionally, the technology sector must begin taking organizations and institutions focused on AI and related technology seriously. Institutions such as Data Science Nigeria and the University of Lagos's Artificial Intelligence Hub should be encouraged and supported.
Additionally, there is a requirement for investment in AI startups. It will assist them in developing solutions tailored to Nigerian issues and significantly reduce the cost of these solutions. If these solutions become more affordable than hiring people, businesses will naturally gravitate toward them. However, such investments would be long-term in nature, as a quick look at the space indicates that there will be no immediate impact.
Nigeria is still very far behind in terms of AI and other advanced technologies that are reshaping the global marketplace. However, with the right government policies in place and a concerted effort to digitize data, the country could establish itself as Africa's AI capital.
