The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has urged the Nigerian Institute of Information and Communication Technology Engineers, (NIICTE) to provide mentorship for interns, start-ups and innovators at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, (NCAIR).
The National Director of the NCAIR, Ya’u Garba -Isa, made the appeal when he hosted the Executive members of the Institute on behalf of the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mr Kashif Inuwa at the NCAIR office in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Garba-Isa stated that the Centre is focusing on developing the capacity of the youths on emerging Technologies which includes; research and development on Emerging Technologies, capacity building, entrepreneurship, collaboration and partnership.
He explained that “We have so many programmes that we are passionate about. This Centre would be happy to always have you around to mentor our interns and innovators.
“The focus of the Centre is to promote hands-on solutions we can apply to solve our national challenges such as insecurity, education, health and the rest. Presently, we are working on smart agricultural farming that can help our farmers to improve the yields of their produce.”
He reiterated that NITDA would keep supporting startups and innovators in order to keep promoting ideas from conceptualisation to commercialization adding that “With the calibre of people in positions of authority now in the ICT industry, the sector would soon hit a breakthrough in no distance time.“
The President of the Institute and Director Digital Economy Department of Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr Austin Nwaulune, stated that the Institute had watched with kin interest the giant strides NITDA has recorded in recent time.
He listed the achievements that are novels to them including the world-class National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, creation of digital jobs award of scholarship, creation of virtual libraries and e-learning facilities among others.
Nwaulune noted that; “The Institute decided to approach NITDA because the Agency is one of our principal for the success of the division. We, therefore, implore you, our principal, to kindly accord the requisite support to our members in your organisation. Our success is the success of the sector where our members operate and ultimately impact on the sector’s advancements.”
According to Him, the Institute is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation with the mandate to promote and enhance the practice and learning of ICT Engineering in Nigeria in accordance with the objectives of the Institute as well as its group dynamic responsibilities as a specialised division of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).
The President of the Institute however called on the Agency to provide support for its planned programmes such as organising conferences, workshops and seminars to enable it to meet the requirement of NSE, maintaining that such supports would be very much appreciated.
He that “Recognizing your role and contribution towards the growth of the ICT sector, we humbly request your kind financial assistance towards the successful organisation of our forthcoming conferences, workshops and seminars.“
The highlight of the visitation was the touring of the facilities at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
PIAK
