Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Uniccon Group, the start-up that built ‘Omeife’, Africa’s first humanoid robot, are exploring a partnership to advance the digital economy and achieve digital literacy 95% nationwide by 2030.

The innovation of the Company; The Omeife humanoid robot has software features known as Omeife as a Service (OaaS). This OaaS will have a strong impact and will help to achieve it.

NITDA CEO Kashifu Inuwa revealed this during a visit to the Uniccon Group facility in Abuja, Nigeria.

He was accompanied by the Coordinator of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), a subsidiary of NITDA, Dr. Yau Isa Garba, the Director of Research and Development of NITDA, Dr. Agu Collins Agu; and Senior Assistant, Strategy and Innovation to NITDA Director General Iklima Salihu and other senior Agency officials.

Congratulating the UNICCON Group team on the progress made with Omeife and other innovative projects, NITDA Boss proceeded to share NITDA’s vision of partnering with the company. “We stand ready to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with Uniccon to infuse Omeife into our already established learning models if he has the ability to communicate in four identified Nigerian languages, namely Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and Pidgin English, to achieve 95% digital literacy in Nigeria by 2030. This, in turn, will enable citizens to use digital devices for economic purposes.”

According to Inuwa, the visit is to fulfill part of the promises made by the government during the inauguration of ‘Omeife’ last December by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami. , who had urged the agency to work closely with the Uniccon Group in the marketing of ‘Omeife’.

Uniccon Group CEO Ekwueme listed Uniccon’s different offerings, including its research efforts in STEM, biogas and sustainable energy, as well as ‘Omeife’, which he described as a convergence of all the Group’s efforts across a broad spectrum of technologies including AI, cloud, blockchain, and drones, among others.

He said that Uniccon’s services, whether in software or hardware development, have converged into a wide spectrum of solutions in blockchain technology, cyber security, cloud computing for the creation of the ‘Omeife’ humanoid.

Mr. Ekwueme, along with other members of the team, took Inuwa and his entourage of key directors from the agency and its subsidiaries on a tour of the company’s office labs.

They explored the Robotics, Chemistry and Molecular Biology labs, in addition, several innovative projects from the lab were presented to the NITDA team.

Expressing his gratitude to NITDA for the agency’s support of the recent launch of UNICCON’s invention Omeife, which is the first African humanoid robot, Ekwueme highlighted advances in the robot’s capabilities, including improvements in its ability to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and the learning of languages, through their competence. in English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Pidgin English and other African languages.

The tour and the engagement promise a mutually beneficial collaboration between NITDA and UNICCON Group for the advancement of Nigeria’s digital culture. A signed MoU will start the association process.

Remember that Inuwa was one of the eminent keynote speakers and supporters of the company’s official launch of Omeife in December 2022.

The UNICCON Group expressed its gratitude to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, NITDA and other agencies and institutions for their support of indigenous innovations.

The company also seeks to improve the African economy through innovative technologies.