Sonny Iroche: AI Can Transform Nigeria’s Census and Economy, But Serious Action Is Needed

A renowned Financial & Infrastructure Consultant and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Expert, Sonny Iroche, has called for a strategic embrace of AI in Nigeria, emphasising its potential to revolutionise the country’s population census, economic planning, and resource allocation.

In an interview with Arise News on Friday, Iroche addressed concerns about AI’s impact on jobs and argued for its responsible integration, highlighting the need for both technological innovation and public education to unlock Nigeria’s true potential.

He discussed the potential benefits of using AI for population census and the country’s readiness for AI adoption.

Addressing concerns about AI replacing human jobs, Iroche noted the importance of human involvement in AI processes. “Let me dissuade the mind of people about AI taking your jobs, there will always be what we call ‘human in the loop’ in AI,” he said.

He explained that while automation might take over certain tasks, humans will be required to manage and oversee the technology. “If robots start to read news, anchors would migrate to higher kinds of jobs. Human beings have to upscale and relearn.”

Iroche further highlighted the potential for AI and robotics to revolutionise Nigeria’s population census, particularly in difficult-to-reach areas. “It is not rocket science that Nigeria has been a country of about 923 thousand square kilometers, with different terrains, beliefs, and cultures,” he noted.

In regions where human enumerators may struggle, he suggested that technology like drones and robotics could step in to gather data. “If you don’t want a man to go in there as an enumerator to count people, then you can use drones, robotics.”

He also pointed out that some terrains in Nigeria are so challenging that even Nigerians cannot access them, despite there being residents in those areas.

He stressed that technology is not just about counting people but also collecting data for planning and political representation. “There are techniques, and it’s not only about counting census; it’s also for data planning and political representation.

“The margin for population error should not be more than 2%, but for Nigeria, it is huge. We cannot build an economy, look at demographics, or allocate resources without accurate data.”

On the topic of GDP per capita and resource allocation, Iroche further emphasised the need for a better understanding of population dynamics. “When you talk about GDP per capita, per capita what? When you want to allocate resources to health, agriculture, Nigeria must become serious,” he remarked.

“The world has changed drastically, and we don’t want to drop to the 4th world. We are managing to be a third world, but Nigeria is too big to be small.”

Addressing fears about AI replacing humans, Iroche highlighted Nigeria’s religious influences as part of the challenge in embracing technological change. “Nigeria is too religious, which is part of our major problem,” he said.

“Let us leave religion apart, Jesus said ‘Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar.’ If you want to count your population, plan for political representation, and gather data, you need to explain to the people that they don’t need a degree to understand this.”

He stressed the importance of communicating AI benefits in local languages to reduce fear and ignorance. “There is a lot of ignorance in Nigeria, and the politicians use the nativity and the ignorance of the people to manipulate them.”

On funding AI initiatives, Iroche acknowledged the scarcity of financial resources but called for prioritisation. “Money in economics will always be a scarce resource. It is for us to prioritise,” he said.

He concluded by discussing the efforts of the National AI and Strategy Committee, which met in April of this year and developed a framework to guide Nigeria’s responsible and ethical adoption of AI. “The National AI and Strategy Committee came up with a fantastic blueprint that will guide Nigeria for responsible and ethical AI.”

Boluwatife Enome

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