23 hours Ago By David Meshioye
Former Minister of Science and Technology and Chairman of the Geometric Power Group, Professor Bart Nnaji, says Nigeria’s long wait for an institute dedicated to studying robotics and artificial intelligence will soon become a thing of the past. The former Minister of Power disclosed the establishment of the institute on Wednesday at a lecture to mark the 100th anniversary of Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. He told the audience that the federal government has successfully scrutinised the institute through the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), adding that the institute’s application was made in 2017, and it took the government four years to establish that “it is in the national interest to have such an advanced facility.
” Nnaji described the objectives of the institute as to engage in the learning and study of computer sciences that teach the technology of intelligent machines and robots and issue certificates to students. He revealed that the institute will also train and issue certification in the design hardware that does some autonomous tasks repeatedly and carry out research studies in the development and analysis of algorithms that learn and perform intelligent behaviour with minimal human intervention. Although Nnaji did not state when and where the institute would commence operations, he called on the Nigerian government to prioritise Science Technology Mathematics, and Engineering (STEM) subjects for Nigeria to leapfrog in developmental terms.
He cited the example of Vietnam which now produces 90,000 STEM talents annually but maintained that the pool is grossly inadequate for leading technology companies like Invidia and Apple which are competing for greater operations in the country. Nnaji completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Artificial Intelligence before becoming a Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Director of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He then moved to the University of Pittsburgh to lead a consortium of universities on a research programme funded by the United States National Science Foundation,.
