Posted on:

September 13, 2024

Text of Speech by Honourable Minister, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani at the G20 Digital Economy Group Meeting in Maceio, Brazil

HM Brazil

SEPTEMBER, 13TH , 2024

Thank you Mr Chair for the invitation to Nigeria to participate in these deliberations and for the warm reception.

Honourable Ministers – permit me to stand on already established protocol.

I’d like to start by commending the leadership of the DEWG and the committees for both the inclusive approach taken in the development of the outcomes of Priority 1 and 2, and the inclusive nature of these outcomes.

On Connectivity, the outcomes of Priority 1 speaks to Nigeria’s position and current priority for our Digital Economy. With our desire to drive shared prosperity and diversify our economy, we recognise universal and equitable access to meaningful connectivity as a fundamental driver of progress in today’s digital age, serving as a cornerstone for economic development, social inclusion, and access to essential services.

We are inspired by farmers in rural China, where traditional markets often offer limited opportunities and returns…but are now embracing digital platforms to connect with consumers. Through live-streaming on social media, these farmers are showcasing their fresh produce, sharing their stories, and building trust with buyers across their country bypassing intermediaries and commanding better prices and returns.

To this end, with the support of the USTDA, the European Union and other partners, we are preparing a $2billion investment in a 90,000km fibre optic network, to extend our existing backbone from 35,000 to 125,000km. With this investment, we are seeking to boost the opportunities offered by the digital economy to grow our economy while empowering our people to further participate meaningfully in the global economy.

To ensure the benefits of our existing investment in digital infrastructure provides universal benefits for all, we are prioritising digital skills and literacy by investing in the world’s largest technical talent acceleration programme (3MTT) and committing to ensuring 70% of our people are digital literate by 2027. In addition, we have established the National Broadband Alliance as a platform for networking and aligning all key stakeholders towards identifying viable and sustainable means of driving meaningful access for all. Today, we are committing to localising the DEWG proposed guidelines on Indicators and Metrics for Universal and Meaningful Connectivity mainly due to its recognition of how national averages can conceal vast differences in large and diverse economies like ours.

On Priority 2 – Nigeria considers investment in DPI as a critical step towards deepening trust in society by providing transparent, reliable, and accessible systems for public services and engagement. Nigeria, with the support of the European Union and the World Bank, is blessed with a robust Digital ID system which has over 90% of adults in the country registered. This Digital ID system offers us a unique opportunity to leverage our well-tested inter-bank settlement system to provide a whole of government approach to the use of technology in supporting our people through critical life events.

To accomplish this, a new legislation to eliminate silos in our approach to technology in government is undergoing public engagement, and once passed will accelerate the development of a data exchange system across government agencies. In parallel, and with the support of the UNDP, World Bank and Gates Foundation, we are establishing a National DPI Centre to lead the development and deployment of a Data Exchange System as a component foundational platform of Nigeria’s DPI and for the interoperability of all government data.

With this effort, we recognise the need to prioritise data privacy, sovereignty and cybersecurity, and as such have just established our National Data Protection Commission with the support of the World Bank, French Development Agency, the European Union and GIZ. The Commission is mandated with:

  • Regulating Data Protection and Privacy
  • Protecting the Rights of Data Subjects
  • Promoting Data Security
  • Enforcement and Compliance Monitoring
  • Capacity Building and Public Awareness
  • Collaboration with International Data Protection Bodies

 

As we make commendable progress in deepening the global digital economy, allow me to echo our shared position that we must continue to prioritise and promote data privacy, sovereignty and security as fundamental elements of maintaining trust and stability in our increasingly connected world. As we promote universal and meaningful connectivity, vast amounts of personal, corporate and government data will continue to be generated and shared across borders. Therefore, we must continue to ensure the protection of individual’s rights and prevent the misuse of sensitive information. Without our commitment to robust data privacy and protection, we stand the risk of exploitation, identity theft, and breaches that could erode public trust in digital services and governance.

“As we make commendable progress in deepening the global digital economy, allow me to echo our shared position that we must continue to prioritise and promote data privacy, sovereignty and security as fundamental elements of maintaining trust and stability in our increasingly connected world.”

On Artificial Intelligence, we recognise the incredible opportunity it offers us as a country to accelerate shared prosperity through unprecedented approaches to development. We are faced with an urgent demand to diversify our economy and raise the level of productivity across our key sectors. To this end, we see AI as not just another trend, but a significant catalyst for change. It has the potential to revolutionise healthcare by diagnosing diseases more accurately than ever before. It can transform education by personalising learning experiences, bridge the gap in financial inclusion through innovative fintech solutions and enhance governance by making public services more efficient and accessible. More importantly, AI offers countries like ours the chance to leapfrog traditional development challenges and unlock new opportunities for growth.

However, we recognise that for us to truly harness AI for our collective benefit, we must be deliberate and collaborative in our approach. We must ensure that our digital transformation journey is inclusive, equitable, and human focused. This is why as government, we prioritised the adoption of an open and inclusive approach to the development of our National AI Strategy.

For us, inclusivity in Artificial Intelligence is not just in its development but also about ensuring that everyone, regardless of their location, socio-economic background, age or gender has access to the opportunities that AI offers. To achieve this:

  • We are fostering innovation, research and entrepreneurship through the establishment of a National AI Collective – a community of practice charged with supporting the implementation of our National AI Strategy and ensuring that ethics and safety are central to the advancement of AI in Nigeria.
  • We are accelerating investment in our computing infrastructure through an initial partnership with local private technology companies to support the development of critical AI solutions of national interest.
  • Through our technology talent accelerator, we are investing in a strong local workforce to power the development of Artificial Intelligence both within the public and private sectors. In partnership with the Gates Foundation, Google and Microsoft, we are building the capacity of colleagues in the civil service to accelerate the application of AI for efficient delivery of public services.
  • We are developing Africa’s first Multimodal-Multilingual Large Language Model, and have started the digitisation of all handwritten records of our National Archives (some dating back to a century).
  • In partnership with UNESCO (supported by the European Union) we are undertaking our AI Readiness Assessment using UNESCO’s Readiness Assessment Methodology tool.

At this point, I’d like to appreciate the US Department of State for the partnership in organising the first Global Inclusivity and AI – Africa Summit in Lagos earlier this week.

We will also like to appreciate the progress made on the global commitment to ethics and safety by many in this room including the US, UK, France, South Korea, Japan, UNESCO and ITU.

Let me once again express our deepest gratitude for the opportunity to be part of these progressive deliberations. We look forward to our continued participation in future G20 gatherings.

We thank the Brazilian Presidency for the opportunity to participate in this gathering.

Isime Esene

Office of the Honourable Minister

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