Six Nigerian universities are going to set up centres for Robotics, Coding, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Cybersecurity. This was announced by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund or TETFund.
The new centres will bring the number of TETFund-supported Centres of Excellence to 36 from 30. A ceremony to inaugurate TETFund’s Advisory Committee on Robotics, Coding, AI, Machine Learning and Cybersecurity was held at the Fund’s headquarters in Abuja.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, said the committee will choose which institutions will host the centres. The committee is led by Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, the Secretary General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities.
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The committee will: Identify universities in Robotics, Coding, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Cybersecurity, Set criteria to choose the institutions, Recommend up to six universities to host the centres, and also ensure that the chosen universities are from all six zones.
Echono said this initiative is very important for the country, “We are not addressing national security issues, we are also preparing our youth to contribute to development and compete globally “, he said.
He further explained that the centres will be exclusively hosted by public universities, and they will have facilities where students and researchers can work on new ideas and compete with others.
Echono told the committee to finish their task in 30 days. He also asked them to guide the chosen universities in setting up the centres. He wants the committee to do work that shows their expertise.
