Jigawa State recently hosted the grand finale of the five-day workshop titled “The Workshop of the Future,” where Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), delivered a keynote address highlighting the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in critical sectors.
Organized by Futuremap Foundation in partnership with NITDA, Jigawa ICT & Digital Economy, Cosmopolitan University, OpenSchool, and Huawei, the workshop focused on the role of AI in enhancing productivity across agriculture, health, education, energy, and climate change. The event also spotlighted design thinking as an essential framework for addressing complex societal challenges.
In his address, Inuwa unveiled plans for a fellowship programme aimed at cultivating local talent to develop digital solutions tailored to Nigeria’s unique challenges. This initiative, he noted, will reduce reliance on external expertise and align with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. The agenda emphasizes industrialization, digitization, creative arts, manufacturing, and innovation as key drivers of national diversification and economic growth.
The workshop reaffirmed the importance of leveraging digital transformation and AI to tackle challenges in critical sectors, marking a significant step toward sustainable development and technological advancement in Nigeria.