Nigeria’s growing tech sector is developing its first AI with local startup Awarri leading the project. This initiative is also a significant employment opportunity, recruiting over 600 fellows from the federal government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program to work as data collectors for a large multilingual language model (LLM).
Nigeria’s Tech Sector Boosts Employment
In a July 24 X announcement, Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, emphasized the government’s dedication to fostering job creation in the tech sector, noting the rapid growth of the Awarri team. Tijani highlighted the broader vision behind this initiative, which aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to creating a million tech jobs within his administration’s first two years. The government has pledged to facilitate employment for the 3MTT fellows as part of its ongoing technical skills training program.
The minister highlighted the successful placement of many fellows from the first cohort into internships nationwide. The 3MTT program, a key part of the Nigerian president’s “Renewed Hope” agenda, aims to build the technical talent needed to power Nigeria’s digital economy. The program began with 30,000 Nigerians, representing 1% of the three million target, and has now expanded to 270,000 participants in its second cohort.
Awarri’s Impact on Nigeria’s AI Initiative
Awarri, which started with 120 AI jobs, has rapidly grown into a comprehensive technology company. It offers full-stack services including data gathering, model creation, and AI application development. The startup’s mission aligns with the Nigerian government’s broader goals to position the country as a significant player in the global AI landscape.
The LLM developed by Awarri marks a significant milestone in Nigeria’s AI capabilities. Officially launched by Minister Bosun Tijani at a four-day AI workshop in Abuja in April, the project is a collaboration between Awarri, DataDotOrg, the National Information Technology Development Agency, and the National Centre for AI and Robotics.
The LLM is designed to enhance language representation in existing datasets, being trained in five low-resource languages and accented English, ensuring inclusivity and broad applicability.