Abbas: N’Assembly Planning Law to Regulate Artificial Intelligence Application in Nigeria 

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has disclosed that the National Assembly is planning a legislation that will provide legal framework for the regulation and application of Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria.

He has therefore  challenged the management of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) to explore opportunities in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimize human capital development.

Abbas specifically tasked authorities of the National Assembly training arm to design a curriculum in line with the practice in other countries.

Abbas, whose speech was read by the House Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, made the appeal on Monday at the matriculation ceremony of NILDS-University of Benin (UNIBEN)  Post Graduate Programmes and HND Programme held in Abuja.

Abbas said many developed countries had advanced their educational systems and continue to explore opportunities in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimize human capital development. 

He said: “In order to key in to this emerging development, the 10th National Assembly will strive to provide a legal framework for regulating the adoption of AI in our country.

“This is in order to ensure an optimal mix of labour-capital ratio in our nation’s development process. 

“In this direction, NILDS is expected to look into the possibilities of providing research-based intellectual support to facilitate the actualization of this very important modern process.

“While the 10th National Assembly will continue to support NILDS, your role as students, therefore, is though simple but important.” 

He therefore called on the students of the institute to endeavour to attend their  lectures regularly, do their assignments promptly, and obey all the rules and regulations that are contained in the Student’s Handbook.

Abbas emphasised the role of education in nation building and national development. 

He said: “In my years as a legislator, I have also seen how the capacity-building and knowledge-deepening of the support system around legislators can help them to enhance legislative processes and outcomes.”

The Director General of NILDS, Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, said this year’s matriculation ceremony was unique in many ways. 

First, he said it presented a higher number of enrolments compared to last year. 

For instance, he said a total number of 180 students had been admitted into the institute’s various post graduate programmes for the current academic session, compared to the 107 for last year.