Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has urged world leaders and education stakeholders to ensure that human values—not technology—remain at the heart of global innovation.
She made the call while speaking at the Education Above All plenary during the 12th World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), themed “Humanity.IO: Human Values at the Heart of Education.” The event was attended by more than 150,000 participants worldwide in Doha, Qatar.
Referencing Qatar’s success in advancing education, Mrs Tinubu, who shared the platform with the First Ladies of Lebanon and Syria, affirmed that no religion prohibits the education of girls.
She stressed that the Nigerian government is committed to providing every child with equal access to learning opportunities.
“Everything begins with education. We are doing all we can as a government to advance the education sector,” she said.
“Nigeria has a huge human capital resource. Our youths excel globally across arts, education, fashion, film, and agriculture. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu considers innovation and technology as the foundation of human capital development.”
The First Lady noted that while digital literacy has significantly expanded access to education in Nigeria, it also presents challenges that must be managed responsibly.
“Digital literacy has helped us because it is faster and reaches more people. It also has its downsides. We believe that as we keep empowering young people, they will do better,” she stated.
Transformation
Earlier, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation and host of the summit, emphasised the need for education to transform societies by equipping young people with the skills required for emerging job markets.
Other speakers echoed the importance of safeguarding human values and ethics in the deployment of artificial intelligence, noting that progress devoid of humanity would be meaningless.