Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Uniccon Group, the start-up that built ‘Omeife’ – Africa’s first humanoid robot, are exploring partnership to promote digital economy and the achievement of 95% digital literacy nationwide by 2030.
The Company’s innovation; Omeife humanoid robot has software features known as Omeife as a Service (OaaS). This OaaS will strongly impact and aid the attainment.
Director General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa disclosed this during a facility tour of the Uniccon Group in Abuja, Nigeria.
He was accompanied by the Coordinator of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), a subsidiary of NITDA, Dr Yau Isa Garba, NITDA’s Director Research and Development, Dr. Agu Collins Agu; and Senior Assistant, Strategy and Innovation to NITDA’s Director General, Iklima Salihu and other senior officials of the Agency.
Commending the UNICCON Group team on progress made with Omeife and other innovative projects, NITDA Boss proceeded to share NITDA’s vision of partnering with the company “We are willing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with Uniccon to infuse Omeife into our already established learning models if it has the ability to communicate in four identified Nigerian languages, namely, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and Pidgin English, towards achieving 95% digital literacy in Nigeria by year 2030. This will, in turn, enable the citizens employ digital devices for economic purposes,”
According to Inuwa the visit is to fulfill part of the promises made by the government during the unveiling of ‘Omeife’ last December by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who had urged the agency to work closely with the Uniccon Group in commercialising ‘Omeife’.
The CEO Uniccon Group, Ekwueme enumerated on the different offerings of Uniccon including its research efforts in STEM, biogas, and sustainable energy as well as ‘Omeife’ which he described as a convergence of all of the Group’s efforts across a broad spectrum of technologies including AI, cloud, block chain and drones amongst others.
He said Uniccon’s services whether in software or hardware developments have all converged across a broad spectrum of solutions in blockchain technology, cyber security, cloud computing for the creation of the ‘Omeife’ humanoid.
Mr. Ekwueme, alongside other members of the team, took Inuwa and his entourage of key principals from the agency and its subsidiaries, on a tour of the company’s offices laboratories.
They explored the Robotics, Chemistry, and Molecular Biology laboratories in addition, various innovative projects from the lab were presented to the NITDA team.
Expressing gratitude to NITDA for the agency’s support of the recent launch of UNICCON’s invention, Omeife, which is the first African humanoid robot, Ekwueme highlighted advancements in the robot’s capabilities, including enhancements in her ability to aid knowledge acquisition and language learning, through her proficiency in English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Pidgin English, and other African languages.
The tour and engagement promise mutually beneficial collaboration between NITDA and UNICCON Group for the advancement of Nigeria’s digital culture. A signed MoU will kick off the partnership process.
Recall that Inuwa was one of the eminent keynote speakers and supporters at the company’s official launch of Omeife in December 2022.
UNICCON Group expressed gratitude to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, NITDA, and other agencies and institutions for their support of indigenous innovations.
The company also seeks to improve the African economy through innovative technologies.
