The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has announced plans to collaborate with relevant agencies to enhance the study of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
This initiative is part of TETFund’s strategy to position the country as a leader in AI on the African continent.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, TETFund’s Executive Secretary, Mr. Sonny Echono, highlighted the organization’s efforts to support AI development through various initiatives, including the scaling up of textbook production and the establishment of ICT centres.
These efforts aim to help Nigeria tap into the global digital economy.
International training and textbook development
Echono noted the importance of AI as one of the few fields where TETFund still sends scholars abroad for further training. He noted that AI is still underdeveloped in Nigeria, which makes it a critical area for capacity-building.
“We don’t send anybody outside anymore. But AI is a new and expanding field. It is one of the few areas we are training people abroad because we want to lead in Africa,” he stated.
In addition to international training, reports inform that TETFund has supported the creation of AI textbooks, focusing on subjects such as AI in teaching, ethics, and curriculum development.
These resources aim to encourage universities to incorporate AI into their teaching and learning methods.
Training thousands in AI and ICT
Echono shared that over the last two years, TETFund has also trained over 3,000 scholars in AI and other emerging ICT fields in partnership with leading institutions.
This initiative also extended to more than 17,000 educators who participated in the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) programme.
“We started with general ICT training because we’ve been doing a lot of ICT training. If the teacher is not ICT-savvy, even for him to put his lecture on the platform is a problem,” Echono explained.
He emphasized that making educators familiar with ICT tools is crucial for effective teaching in today’s digital environment. The training also covers how teachers can leverage ICT to improve the quality of their delivery and student engagement.
TETFund’s commitment to robotics and book development
Echono further revealed that TETFund is pushing forward in the areas of ICT and robotics, aiming to catch up with global advancements.
“We want to leapfrog others in ICT, robotics. We are coming very strong in robotics now, but we are latecomers, some people are already doing it before us. But we don’t want anybody to be ahead of us on this continent,” he said.
On the topic of book development, Echono discussed the improvements made since he assumed office in 2022. Previously, TETFund had published only 20 books over a span of 13 years.
He set ambitious targets for the book development committee, urging them to publish more books. As a result, TETFund published 50 books in 2023, with another 60 published shortly thereafter, and a further 50 books are currently in production.
Echono’s drive for more books was aimed at addressing gaps in subjects where textbooks were lacking.
“We identified the subjects where we do not have enough textbooks. We tasked the professors and all the experts in that field to put things in order,” he added.
TETFund’s book development initiative is now expected to continue its accelerated pace, with further plans to publish additional books in the near future.
