NHRC to engage tech companies over AI harm prevention in Nigeria 

This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tony Ojukwu SAN, on Thursday, at an AI Governance webinar organized by the International Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (IN-CSR) in collaboration with the Commission, attended by Naijaonpoint.

The workshop was also held in partnership with the United Nations Working Group and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The announcement comes months after the African Union (AU) Executive Council approved the “Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy,” which proposes the adoption of AI in the public and private sectors among member states, including Nigeria.

The AU disclosed this in the Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy document published on the AU website on Friday, August 9, 2024.

Giving his keynote address at the workshop, Ojukwu, who heads Nigeria’s human rights agency, said AI, if not governed with robust ethical frameworks and with human dignity at the core, can breed inequalities, result in algorithmic bias, invade privacy, and ultimately infringe on human rights.

“The Commission, in its strategic approach, will engage tech companies to ensure that AI algorithms are transparent.   

“This transparency will allow for independent audits, redress mechanisms, and accountability measures that will prevent discrimination or harm,” he said.

Ojukwu assured participants that the Commission is uniquely positioned to act as a bridge among government entities, private sector innovators, academic researchers, and civil society organizations in the nation’s quest for AI Governance.

He highlighted that the role of the NHRC will now be to foster dialogue, share best practices, and coordinate with regulatory bodies to do the following:

He further tasked stakeholders with establishing clear lines of accountability for both public and private actors who develop and deploy AI systems across sectors in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, Kashifu Inuwa Abdulahi, Director General of NITDA, said that in response to AI-associated risks, NITDA is prioritizing the development of diverse, high-quality local data sets to train AI models that are inclusive, equitable, and free from biases inherited from foreign data sets.

He said this LLM is being trained in five low-resource Nigerian languages and accented English, aiming to enhance the representation of Nigeria’s diverse linguistic heritage in AI applications.

According to him, this initiative underscores the commitment to leveraging indigenous data sources to ensure that AI technologies serve all segments of Nigerian society.

He assured that NITDA is committed to ensuring that AI systems deployed in Nigeria uphold transparency, accountability, and fairness in governance.