Samuel Ogbuku, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) managing director, has implored young people to move beyond consuming artificial intelligence (AI).
Ogbuku made the call on Monday at the opening of the NDDC artificial intelligence training and capacity building programme for innovative opportunities in Port Harcourt.
The programme, organised by the commission’s department of information technology and innovation, is aimed at equipping young people with skills to participate in the digital economy.
Ogbuku, who was represented by Obegha Oworibo, his chief of staff, said the Niger Delta must begin to harness the knowledge, creativity and intelligence of its people as an economic resource.
“For generations, the Niger Delta has been known for the oil beneath its soil,” he said.
“Today, I want our young people to recognise that there is another resource with enormous potential: the knowledge, creativity, data and intelligence within their minds.”
Ogbuku described AI as a new kind of resource, and that its value is unlocked through knowledge, creativity and human intelligence.
He said the initiative was designed not only to teach young people about AI but also to encourage them to use the technology to develop solutions and create economic opportunities.
“Today, we are not simply opening another training programme. We are opening a conversation about the future, and more importantly, about the place of our young people in that future,” he said.
According to him, AI has already transformed the global workplace and is changing how people learn, create, conduct businesses and solve problems.
Ogbuku urged the youths to focus on what they could create with AI rather than what the technology could do for them.
He also urged young people not to allow their geographical location or background to limit their ambitions.
“The important question, therefore, is not simply whether artificial intelligence will change our world. It already has,” he said.
“Do not come here simply to learn what artificial intelligence can do. Come to discover what you can build with it.”
‘NIGER DELTA SHOULD TRANSITION FROM OIL DEPENCE TO DIGITAL CAPACITY’
Emeka Ani, director of information technology and innovation at the NDDC, said programme would enable participants would acquire practical knowledge of AI and its applications.
He said the programme would also teach participants how to use AI tools to improve productivity and innovation, identify opportunities for entrepreneurship and self-employment, and develop solutions to real-life challenges.
Adedeji Oyenuga, a professor of sociology and criminology, said the region’s development narrative had for decades been dominated by oil extraction, environmental degradation and socio-economic challenges.
In his keynote address, titled ‘Deploying Artificial Intelligence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Niger Delta Region’, Oyenuga said AI provided an opportunity for the region to shift from dependence on finite natural resources to human intellect and digital capacity.
“Today, this workshop marks a decisive pivot. We are stepping out of the shadow of finite underground wealth and into the boundless arena of human intellect, digital capacity, and artificial intelligence,” he said.
He described AI as a fundamental infrastructure shift that is changing how economies operate, security is maintained, value is generated and livelihoods are sustained.
Oyenuga urged stakeholders to explore how predictive analytics, machine learning and intelligent automation could be deployed to address challenges in the Niger Delta and build a more inclusive and resilient regional economy
