Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) held the maiden Artificial Intelligence Summit in Lafia, Nassarawa State from Wednesday 25^th – Friday 27^th March, 2022.

At the Summit, the President of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Professor Adesina Sodiya called on Nigerian to leverage on Artificial intelligence for the economic growth of the country. According to Prof. Sodiya, “Artificial intelligence is been implemented across the globe to enhance the process and activities of both the public and private organization, countries and business are now leveraging on the technology. Integrating AI in Government would trigger numerous activities such as better policy formulation, efficient decision making, enhancing quality of service and increase work output in promoting good government”, he added

In his goodwill message at the Summit, the President and Chairman of Council, Mr. Kole Jagun said that the AI Summit is an agenda whose time has come. He said the convocation of the Summit would do Nigeria good as it will profoundly reshape the social and economic landscape of our nation, even as it is capable of sparking innovations and foster creative solutions in fields such as agriculture, medicine, transportation, finance, education, etc. He said it was therefore wisdom that individuals, corporate organisations and governments must embrace AI opportunities for competitive advantage and rapid national development. Recent research has estimated Artificial Intelligence to provide several trillions of dollars of global economic growth and Nigeria cannot afford to miss out of the great potentials of AI as a game changer.

Speaking at the summit, Minister of Communication and Information, Prof. Isa Pantami said the Federal Government would partner with Nigeria Computer Society on Artificial intelligence for National Development. Prof Pantami, represented by the Director, National Center for Artificial intelligence and robotics, Engr. Ya’u Garba commended the NCS for initiating the AI 2022 summit. He said the platform has created an enabling environment to discuss and promote AI for adoption in public and private organization to ensure a rapid national development using emerging technology for the benefit of the nation.

The Nasarawa state Governor, Abdullahi Sule represented by his Deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe said AI is an accelerator for innovation and economy growth not only in Nigeria but the entire globe.

According to the Governor, “AI is design to develop digital system and technology to encourage human capacity in solving problems and decision making. The system is geared towards reshaping the social and economy landscape of the nation and would serve as a catalyst for innovation as well as foster creation in the area of Agriculture, Medicines, education, revenue generation among others”.

The theme for the 2022 Artificial intelligence Summit is “Artificial intelligence for National Development”.