NACETEM emphasizes significance of AI in public sector

The Director-General of the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), Dr. Olusola Odusanya, has underscored the pivotal role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) deployment in the public sector, highlighting its potential to enhance efficiency and ensure precise data collection, thereby fostering economic growth.

Odusanya, who made this known during an interview with newsmen while highlighting the opportunities of AI in the public sector, said data gathered from different sources helps in policy frameworks and decision-making in government.

“If one looks at the deployment of artificial intelligence in civil service, in recent times, a lot of reforms has been carried out,” he said.

The Director-General highlighted that these include professionalism, data-driven identification, and the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) that is linked to human resources.

‘’These data come in different ways due to data collected from different sources and help the government in planning.

‘’When you juxtapose the development in the public service reforms, it now indicates to you that government will be able to take data-driven informed decisions and the application of Artificial intelligence makes it faster.

‘’In spite of the recent reforms the public sector is far beyond in the deployment of these technologies and these are the things we need. With the deployment of these technologies, the future of work is one that will be remote work.

”E-commerce and e-governance will be important, and a lot of data economy generated. Perhaps the data economy is the biggest economy that Nigeria will experience,” he said.

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The director-general stated that it is a welcome development that the Nigerian government recognizes that e-commerce and data will soon be the main source of wealth, leading to a huge data economy.

“So, we need to prepare ourselves, get ready, and begin to train the critical manpower that is going to be involved.” Odunsanya added.

NACETEM is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, vested with the mandate of training and developing middle to high-level manpower and conducting policy research in the areas of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) management for all tiers of government and the private sector.

Chidimma Gold