{"id":2352,"date":"2023-09-21T17:53:30","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T17:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=2352"},"modified":"2023-09-21T17:53:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T17:53:30","slug":"harnessing-ai-for-africas-prosperity-ncc-chairman-stresses-potential-and-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2023\/09\/21\/harnessing-ai-for-africas-prosperity-ncc-chairman-stresses-potential-and-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Harnessing AI for Africa&#8217;s Prosperity: NCC Chairman Stresses Potential and Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Uchendu Alexis\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, has underscored the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in addressing Africa&#8217;s pressing issues, including poverty, food security, and healthcare. Speaking at a recent event in Abuja, Danbatta emphasized the pivotal role AI can play in various sectors.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In recent years,&#8221; Danbatta noted, &#8220;we have witnessed remarkable advancements in AI across various sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, finance, transportation, education, and even governance. AI-powered solutions hold the promise of tackling some of Africa&#8217;s most critical challenges, such as limited access to healthcare, food security, financial inclusion, and infrastructure development.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, Danbatta highlighted that for Africa to fully harness the benefits of AI, several key factors need to be addressed. First and foremost, there is a need for substantial investment in building essential digital infrastructure, particularly by expanding broadband connectivity. As of July 2023, broadband penetration in Nigeria stood at 47.01%. Ensuring reliable power supply and creating a conducive regulatory environment are also imperative steps.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Without robust infrastructure, the potential of AI will remain unrealized, and the digital divide will persist. Secondly, Danbatta stressed the importance of prioritizing digital skills development. AI technologies demand a skilled workforce capable of developing, deploying, and maintaining these systems. Thus, investing in education and training programs that equip African youth with the necessary skills to participate in the AI-driven economy is vital.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By nurturing a generation of AI experts, Africa can elevate its position in the global AI landscape and simultaneously create employment opportunities for its youth. Professor Danbatta&#8217;s vision highlights the potential for AI to be a catalyst for positive change in Africa, provided the necessary steps are taken to leverage its capabilities effectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Uchendu Alexis\u00a0 &nbsp; The Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, has underscored the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in addressing Africa&#8217;s pressing issues, including poverty, food security, and healthcare. Speaking at a recent event in Abuja, Danbatta emphasized the pivotal role AI can play in various sectors. &nbsp; &#8220;In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2354,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352\/revisions\/2354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}