The National Commissioner for the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, has disclosed that Nigeria can issue regulations to control whatever happens with emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
This is as he noted that the commission was playing a major role in creating an AI strategy for the country.
Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, revealed that Nigeria needed to develop a national strategy to harness the power of AI for sustainable development.
According to Olatunji, the recently passed Data Protection Act can protect the interests of Nigerians as emerging technologies continue to play a more prominent role in the world.
He stated this on the sidelines of a ‘Data Protection Training for Data Protection Officer, Processors and Controllers’, organised by the commission in partnership with the African Union, European Union Digital for Development Hub Project and the GIZ Digital Transformation Centre.
The recent boom in the AI industry has led to conversations around regulation, especially due to concerns about the seeming lack of limits for AI.
Nigeria was recently part of several countries that committed to a new policy paper called the Bletchley Declaration.
The declaration aims to reach a global consensus on how to tackle the risks that AI poses in the present and future as it develops.
Olatunji also said that the commission was now looking into roughly fifteen firms, some of which had already been concluded.
