Euripedes was credited to have reflected deeply and addressed himself saying: “Arm yourself my heart; the thing you must do is fearful, yet inevitable”.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Bosun Tijani, the current Minister in charge of Digital Economy will take a cue from Euripides’ philosophy and be bold in his approach to the digital economy by telling the truth to power!
Will he be bold to tell Mr. Wale Edun,Finance Minister and President Bola Tinubu that the N205 million approved as a research grant is but a drop in a highly tidal world ocean of AI, and that it is not capable of moving the needle, so to speak.
What l am saying to the Minister in clear terms is that the proposal of N5million grant or award to 45 entities or consortia of start-ups and researchers working in AI will ultimately fail. Here is why!
Firstly, five million Naira today is around $5000 in Nigeria. So, the question comes up: what can you use $5000 dollars to do in AI research and development at its current position worldwide.
Here are some informed suggestions.
One, the most doable example is in the area of Collecting and Cleaning of Data. AI researchers need to have large datasets of high-quality data in order to train AI models, therefore $5000 can be used to collect and clean data for variety of AI projects. If this is done, the $5000 will be completely spent without anything left for further research or development.
Another area where $5000 dollars can be effective is in the purchase of computing resources because AI researchers require a lot of computing power.
One other suggestion is that the $5000 can be used to purchase cloud computing resources or to build a custom AI workstation.
Another useful and necessary area in AI research and development is to use the grant to attend Conferences and to purchase travel and accommodation since most meaningful workshops and conferences are based abroad.
Bosun Tijani,Minister for Digital Economy
In each of these suggestions, no money would be left over for any form of research and development in AI.
I guess what am communicating is that $5000 won’t scratch the surface in AI research and development.
Meanwhile, another question arises. How are the researchers livelihoods going to be taken care of?
Living expenses, transportation, subscriptions, telecommunications and other resources that are absolutely essential for their existence?
A food for thought? Sir, you have also seen this up-close in the past.
Now, let us examine how other governments leading in AI development are dealing with adopting the all pervasive phenomenon.
The United States of America leads the world by investing over $250 billion in AI and has retained her leadership by so doing since 2013.
The U.S has invested the money in 4,633 companies and it is said that the undisclosed investment via the military and other sensitive institutions doubled the given amount.
China is a distant second with about $95 billion invested in about 1,337 companies and organizations( the EU recently announced an unprecedented rise in China’s investment in economic espionage largely in high technology like AI).
The United Kingdom spends about $18 billion investing in about 630 companies and entities working in AI. And guess which country is at the fourth position! Israel.
Yes.Israel spends about $11 billion on research and development of AI supporting about 402 companies and entities dusting countries like Canada, France, India, Japan, Germany and Singapore in that ranking order.
Furthermore sir, let us look at a few entities that has funded AI researches and developments with small grants comparatively to the subject at hand.
In order to develop a *new* AI algorithm for medical diagnosis, a team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley received a $100,000 (N100 million) from National Science Foundation.
The algorithm was able to achieve a state-of-the-art results on a number of benchmark datasets; as l write, the researchers are in the process of of commercializing it worldwide.
Also, we have all seen on CNN how a team of entrepreneurs in India have used a grant of $50,000 (N50 million) to develop a new AI powered educational platform which is trained to personalize learning for individual students.
The algorithm has proven a great success as it has shown prowess in improving individual student’s outcomes in a large number of studies. The grant was made available by MIT Lab of India.
The above are just a few examples of how a small grant can be used to achieve ground breaking AI research and development wins.
. But none of the above successes can be compared with a $5000 grant being proposed by the Ministry of Digital Economy for research and development on AI.
Not even close at all. And given that the infrastructures needed for ‘ease of doing research’ are already available for them; come on, how can $5000 have any impact in Nigeria?
While bootstraps are good and sometimes makes a great difference, my take is that N205 million Naira investment in AI by the largest economy in Africa is scandalous compared to Singapore (a one city country) investing $5billion in about 165 AI entities as at 2022.
Furthermore, in a statement credited to the Minister Tijani on X, he said, “We are inviting researchers and start ups working in AI to apply for up to N5million (Five million Naira) …. as we build a strong foundation for our ministry’s efforts to drive innovation, increase productivity in critical sectors and position Nigeria as a global center for AI technology application”.
While we should aim for “global center for AI technology applications”, methinks that since past governments failed to see beyond the curve in AI development and other technologies, we should start from the scratch and work our way up with great determination to be up there.
In fact ,as far as AI is concerned, Nigeria is way behind and we can’t re-invent its wheels.
As a technology expert yourself, you are very aware that the field of AI research was laid in 1956 at a workshop held at Dartmouth College, USA.
Although we are many years behind, l do not doubt that Nigeria has the potential to be a leader in AI adoption because we have a young and talented population and a growing economy.
Given the right amount of attention and investment in AI, we will do well in Nigeria.
But as long as we approach the issue timidly and without solid foundation, same old stories will result.
In my own candid opinion, what we need to do urgently is to invest in AI education by developing new and relevant AI curricula and training programs.
.Some institutions of higher learning should be pinpointed and teamed up to work on one or two areas that will help enrich our economy in the short term.
For the long term research and development, the Ministries for Education, Science and Technology and that of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy should adopt a great synergistic strategy based on a compelling vision for the country.
Like other advancing nations, Nigerian governments at all levels must choose the right companies and institutions, vet them properly and put huge sums of money behind researches that will eventually put us in the world map on AI adoption.
.Big companies that are ready to raise resources by themselves in pursuit of AI development or other areas of high technology should be encouraged with tax exception for workable years.
Further to the above, we all know that corruption, lack of road infrastructure, power/electricity and probably manufacturing processes are the major issues affecting our economy. So, why not put good money behind coordinated researchers and give them time frame for results.
These scientists and technologists must be allowed and even encouraged to get support from geniuses from anywhere in the world. Remember the success of “Reverse Engineering” synonymous with India?
Howbeit, my concern in writing this article is simple and understandable.
A grant of N5 million would likely be used to repackage existing AI technologies that are already on the shelves across the world. The amount of money on offer is too little and as the dollar wax strong, Naira values lessen and most recipients would definitely be stuck.
Like Israel and Singapore we should strengthen our educational institutions and systems for Science and technology.
We should not try to reinvent the wheel but hire or co-opt experts from around the world to help us accelerate the cause.
In the course of writing this article, l drove to Ikorodu to ask a veteran architect one question about President Tinubu on project funding.
In all the three stories he said about his encounter with the man when he was the governor of Lagos, one stood out …”I was given a project… and l refused to do it. A meeting was arranged for me to explain my situation to him.. but the meeting which was scheduled for 11am took place at 4am the next day. Along the line we decided to go and meet him at various locations and mostly on getting there he would have moved on to another location throughout the night until we eventually met him at 4am. Aregbesola was there and the first thing he said to me was; “ema je kaja!”(Don’t let us fight o!) And l replied: “My governor aaleja!”(We can’t fight my Governor!).
When he asked me why, I thrusted a paper to him and told him pointedly that my company cannot do the job for that amount. I explained every stage to him and the cost implications. There and then, he called for due diligence.
When he got everything he needed he used his “red biro” to approve the project which still stands out today! … the man is a hands-on-manager. Not afraid to sack or promote”.
So sir, am told that what we did not see in Lagos about Asiwaju attitude to work will be made bare soonest.
Therefore, In AI research and development, where are we presently sir?
The answer is obvious. Rock Bottom.
But as many are saying that we have a “Hands-On” management style in President Tinubu, l believe you should approach the high table and insist that we need good money to break-out before we can breakthrough.
My Minister, you now have a chance to be a revolutionary. Your department will drive the policy gamut in many areas of the Nigerian life in the years to come and actually modernize Nigeria. We can not patch anything along like before. Be it road or technology or science, we must build to last. Yes! Sir, Please think on it sir.
May l also remind the power that be of the words of Jacque Danton : “Il nous faut de l’audace, encore de l’audace, tou jours de l’audace!” (We must dare, and dare again and go on daring!). Jacque Danton—Assemblee legislative Paris; Sept 2, 1792. Danton was a French Revolutionary leader and orator, often credited as the chief force in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the First French Republic (September 21, 1792).
