Meet the AI Summit Confirmed Speakers
Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim
Minister, FMCDE
PROF. ISA ALI IBRAHIM PANTAMI, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM
HONOURABLE MINISTER
Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) is the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Dr Pantami obtained a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science (B.Tech), from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), and proceeded to acquire two Masters Degrees from the same institution in quick succession. One in Computer Science (MSc) and the other, an MBA in Technology Management with flying colours. His scholarly pursuits then led him to the renowned Robert Gordon University Aberdeen Scotland, where he bagged a Doctorate in Computer Science (PhD), specialising in Computer Information Systems.
Prior to his appointed as a Minister, he was the Director General (DG)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). He is currently the Chief Digital Officer of the Federation, based on the National Policy for Virtual Engagements in Federal Public Institutions. He has also been a member of several Presidential and Inter-Ministerial Committees including Committee on Citizen Data Management and Harmonisation, National Committee on Export Promotion, Digital Identity Ecosystem Steering Committee, National Action Committee on African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). He was also appointed as AfCFTA Champion for Communications and Digital Economy.
Under the leadership of Prof. Pantami, as the first Minister of Digital Economy, a National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and National Broadband Plan were developed and many unprecedented successes recorded. In less than a year as the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the lingering issue of excessive Right of Way charges and vandalism of telecommunication infrastructure have been effectively addressed. Under his stewardship, broadband penetration increased by about 10% in a year, instead of the average annual increase of about 1.7%, and ICT contributed an unprecedented 17.83% to the GDP based on the Q2 2020 GDP Report by National Bureau of Statistics. At 14.70%, ICT was also the fastest growing sector of the Nigerian economy in the 4th Quarter of 2020. He initiated the first Virtual Federal Executive Council meeting on the 13th of May 2020 and has been coordinating the technical aspects of the meetings since then.
Prof. Pantami also holds certificates in Digital Transformation from Harvard, Digital Strategy from both Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Institute of Management Development Lausanne, Switzerland, Strategic Leadership from Oxford University, and a University of Cambridge Certification in Management. The dynamic, inspirational agent of transformation, is also a conflict resolution expert with national and international experiences in that regard.
Prof. Pantami is a recipient of several global awards and is a well sought after speaker, delivering convocation lectures in a number of public and private universities, including the Federal University of Technology Minna, the Nile University, the Federal University Kashere and the National Defence College. He has also served as a Keynote Speaker in leading global events like the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai and the GSMA Africa Policy Leaders Forum, amongst others. He is the Champion of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP)- a global initiative that helps regions accelerate economic growth and promote social progress through innovation-driven entrepreneurship (IDE). He has visited about 30 countries.
Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) who is popularly known as the Digital Minister, is a global IT citizen, a revered and highly respected Fellow of the Nigerian and British Computer Societies, and is happily married with children.
Prof. Adesina Sodiya
President, NCS
Professor Adesina Simon Sodiya, FNCS is the President of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and Professor of Computer Science and Information Security at the
Department of Computer Science,
Federal University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
- Email:president@ncs.org.ng
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi
Director General, NITDA
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi is the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA (https://nitda.gov.ng).
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi is a graduate of Computer Science from the prestigious Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.
Mr Abdullahi is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT Sloan – trained strategist with 15 years experience in IT operations, business transformation and solution architecture, across both private and public sectors. He attended Leadership and Management courses at Harvard University in the USA, University of Cambridge in the UK and IMD Business School in Switzerland.
Mr Abdullahi has worked for nine years (2004 – 2013) at Galaxy Backbone and held several positions such as Network Engineer, IP Network Field Engineer, Senior Network & Lead, IP Operations Team, and Senior Solution Architect & Lead, Technical Solution Design.
In 2014, Mr Abdullahi joined Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a Technology Architect, where he dedicated his time to developing Technology Architecture Repository that gives 360 view of the Bank’s IT Infrastructure and facilitated ease of decision making on new IT investment. He was part of the team that executed software license rationalization that has increased cost savings for the Bank in license annual subscriptions.
As the 1st Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) in Nigeria’s Public Sector, he is also a Certified Project Manager and Solution Architect.
He also has many professional certifications in Networking, Telecommunications, Service Management and Solution Design.
Mr Abdullahi was a key resource in the development of IT standards for the apex bank, which has reduced mean time to deploy/integrate new system by over 20%. One of his major achievements as a Technology architect was the production of 7 Solution Architectures for critical IT initiatives that helped in achieving cashless society in Nigeria.
He joined NITDA in 2017 as Technical Assistant to the Director General/CEO. Being the IT regulatory body in Nigeria mandated to implement National ICT policy, he managed execution of strategy which has increased ICT contribution to Nigerian GDP by over 13% in Q2 2018. He also coordinated Local Content initiatives that has increased ICT local production by over 200% in 2017.
Mr Abdullahi is a member of both Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and the British Computer Society (BCS).
Timnit Gebru
Founder DAIR
Timnit Gebru is the founder and Executive Director of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR). Prior to that she was fired by Google in December 2020 for raising issues of discrimination in the workplace, where she was serving as co-lead of the Ethical AI research team. She received her PhD from Stanford University, and did a postdoc at Microsoft Research, New York City in the FATE (Fairness Accountability Transparency and Ethics in AI) group, where she studied algorithmic bias and the ethical implications underlying projects aiming to gain insights from data. Timnit also co-founded Black in AI, a nonprofit that works to increase the presence, inclusion, visibility and health of Black people in the field of AI, and is on the board of AddisCoder, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching algorithms and computer programming to Ethiopian highschool students, free of charge.
- Email:tgebru@gmail.com
Prof. Jude Kong
Director ACADIC
Jude Kong is a professor at York University (www.judekong.ca), Canada and the Director of the Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC) (http://acadic.org).
Additional, he is a member of the Canadian Black Scientist Network, a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Mathematics for Public Health Network, and a member of the Canadian COVID-19 Modelling Rapid Response Task Force. Kong is an expert in artificial intelligence, data science and infectious disease modelling. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been leading an interdisciplinary team of more than 50 researchers from key academic and government institutions in nine African countries that have been leveraging Artificial Intelligence to predict and forecast COVID-19 infections in Africa. In 2020, he won a York Research Leader Award.
- Email:jdkong@yorku.ca
Dr. Olusola Sayeed Ayoola
Founder RAIN
Resource person, Life Coach, and Inspirational speaker, Dr. Olusola Sayeed Ayoola is the founder of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Nigeria (RAIN) where he leads research in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and supports career progression of young Robot Developers. He is also the lead facilitator in the Robot Development and Automation - RDA full certification wing of RAIN.
He recently joined the prestigious University of Ibadan, Nigeria where he delivers robotics and advanced control theory modules to postgraduate students. Dr. Ayoola has been a recipient of local and international scholarship awards.
He holds a first-class bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Ibadan. He also holds a masters’ degree with distinction in Advanced Control and Systems Engineering as well as a doctorate degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Dr. Ayoola served as a member of the robotics research group at the University of Manchester, UK from 2014 to 2019. During this period, and in partnership with Forth Engineering, UK, Dr. Ayoola focused on developing ground and underwater robots to support UK's Nuclear Decommissioning programme.
He also championed research in acoustics systems for underwater robot positioning and underwater wireless communication.
Dr. Ayoola is a member of the prestigious Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). He has a proven passion for knowledge transfer and an extensive record of delivering robotics and STEM outreach programmes in the UK.
Dr. Chika Yinka-Banjo
Founder AIROL
Chika Yinka-Banjo obtained her PhD in 2015 in the area of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at University of Cape Town South Africa. She was an ETT fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA in 2019. She is one of the two hundred most qualified young researchers selected by the Scientific Committee of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF) from all countries to participate in the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, Germany, 2018. She is the founder of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory (AIROL) at the University of Lagos and a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Dr. Victor Odumuyiwa
Ag. Director NitHub
Dr. Victor Odumuyiwa is currently the acting Director of the NITDA IT Hub (NitHub) at the University of Lagos where he is building a technology innovation eco-system to enhance the digital economy of the nation. He was formerly Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Systems (CITS). He is also a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Sciences, University of Lagos. Dr. Odumuyiwa is the current president of the West African chapter of the International Society for Knowledge Organisation (ISKO-WA). He is also the current chairman of the Association of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Trained African University Lecturers (AMTAUL). He is a member of the Advisory Board of Data Science Nigeria. He is a member of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and also a member of Computer Professionals of Nigeria (CPN). He has been involved in several research projects and international collaborations. He was appointed in 2014 as a stream coordinator in the applied computer science curriculum and learning content development project for the African Virtual University (AVU) sponsored by the African Development Bank. He is currently part of an international research team working on Digital Innovation for Transitioning to a Circular Plastic Economy (DITCh Plastic) –a UKRI funded project. Dr. Odumuyiwa also participated in the SIST (Scientific Information System) project, a Franco-African project comprising of France and 12 African countries aimed at federating researchers across Africa and ensuring global dissemination of their research output. He was part of a Franco-Nigeria collaboration project on capacity building involving Université Nancy 2 France, French Foreign Affairs Ministry and four Nigerian universities (University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University and Lagos State University). Odumuyiwa co-chaired the 9th International Conference on e‐Infrastructure and e‐Services for Developing Countries organized by the European Alliance for Innovation in December 2017 in Lagos. He also chaired the 3rd Biennial International Conference on Transition from Observation to Knowledge to Intelligence (TOKI2019) – a platform for presentation of new research findings and results in Knowledge Management, Competitive Intelligence, Big Data, Semantic Web, IOT, Web Mining, Natural Language Processing and Data Science. He is passionate about enhancing the quality of education delivery in Nigeria.
Yau Isa Garba
National Director, NCAIR
Yau Isa Garba is currently the National Director, National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), a subsidiary of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), where he leads research and development on emerging technologies.
Mr Garba holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in Computer Engineering and is an alumnus of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi (ATBU) and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
He held several positions in academia and industry, with experience spanning both research and development in information technology and embedded systems. Mr Garba is certified by Microsoft, Cisco and CompTIA in areas related to systems administration, networking, and computer security.
He is a technology enthusiast, an expert on emerging technologies, with experience spanning both industry and academia. He is a pragmatic engineer with expertise in the development of both hardware and software systems, with applications in healthcare, agriculture, renewable energy, and educational technology. He has designed several tools to inspire young Nigerians to embrace technology using the popular ‘Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’ (STEM) scheme. He is also an ardent precision agriculturalist where he has been designing and deploying innovative systems to take Nigerian agricultural industries to new levels.
Before joining NITDA, he has been the co-founder and CEO of a technology startup developing cutting-edge products for the renewable energy sector. He is still a hands-on engineer, spending quality times with machines and tools in the NCAIR research and development labs.
Engr. Kemisola Bolarinwa
CEO Nextwear Technologies
Bolarinwa Kemisola is the founder of Next wear Technology, the first wearable technology startup in Nigeria. She is a Robotics and Embedded system Engineer, with exceptional tech skills.
Her work in the field of wearable technology is significant. She developed a wearable solution for safety and invented a Smart Bra device that detects earliest stage Breast Cancer.
Kemisola advocates STEM Education mainly for girls rich is her special passion for bridging the STEM gender gap and attracting young women to choose careers in STEM-related fields.
Christopher Ighalo
Manager, Smartcity Plc
Christopher Ighalo’s Profile.
Christopher Ighalo is an experienced Proptech and Innovations Manager, Digital Marketing Expert, Research and Development Executive, Customer Insights and currently the Head of Technical Services and Project Manager of HazanaCity Ibadan; a development project by SmartCity PLC with over 7 years’ experience in the ICT space.
Prior to his appointment at SmartCity PLC, he was Product Manager (Digital Real Estate Solutions) at Chams PLC in collaboration with SmartCity PLC. Working with the department of Innovations & Marketing Communications, Chris drove some of Chams New Innovations and Solutions. He worked with a team of Executives in deriving 6 new products which are currently in the Chams products and solutions lab. He also brainstormed with a team of experts in deriving the new Real Estate Solution of which he was made the Product Manager, a solution to revolutionize the Real Estate sector in Nigeria today. He has also worked at ChamsAccess Limited (a subsidiary of Chams PLC) prior to his promotion to Chams PLC, to set up the first IT Department of the company. He also worked as the Digital Marketing Personnel, driving sales through social media, and lastly as an Innovations Executive for ChamsAccess Limited. Through his exceptional performance at ChamsAccess Limited, he was awarded the Most Innovative Staff of the company for the year 2015 and 2016 respectively. He also recently attained the award for the Most Inventive Staff of Chams PLC 2018.
Christopher is Procept Certified in Project Management Essentials, ITIL Foundations, Reports and Proposals Writing, Service Excellence by B.Adedipe, Microsoft Office tools by Wizer, Effective Social Media Marketing and Critical and Analytical Thinking with Enzo Crypton and Udemy MBA Certified. He has a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo state. He is currently undergoing online Programming courses for Software and Web service development.
Dr. Adewale Ashogbon
Liberty University, Virginia
Adewale is an Adjunct Professor at the Liberty University, Virginia, United States. He's also a Certified Information Security/Cybersecurity Manager with an extensive background in Banking Institution. He has over 10 years of industry experience spanning Information Security Audit, Enterprise Risk Management, and IT/Data Governance. He's a performance driven and Subject Matter Expert with a research niche in Cybersecurity Governance, Risk, and Compliance (SOX, PCI-DSS, ISO 270xx, FFIEC, GLBA, NIST, COBIT, COSO, FISMA, and GDPR). He holds a PhD in Business Administration from Northcentral University, California, USA.
Prof. Oludele Awodele
Babcock University, Nigeria
Oludele AWODELE, is a Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. He had his higher education at the University of Ilorin and Federal university of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. He is trained to conduct programme accreditation in computer science, artificial intelligence. He was the Head of Department Computer Science, Babcock University (2009-2016), Dean, School of Computing and Engineering Sciences (2016-2020), and currently the Director of Academic Planning, Babcock University. He is a Fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society, Member of the following professional bodies: Computer Professional Registration of Nigeria, Institute of Cooperate Administration, USA Informing Science Institute, He has published well over 150 papers both in International and Local Journals. He has Mentored and supervised 21 MSc, 12 PhD and several Undergraduate Projects.
From 2017-2021, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the following Nigeria Computer Society Journals: International Journal of Information Security Privacy & Digital Forensics and the Journal of Computer Science and Its Applications. Member, Governing Council, Association of Applied Information Management Professionals. Member, Governing Council of the Nigeria Computer Society, Member Governing Council of the Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria and the Chairman, Innovation, Research and Development Committee of the Nigeria Computer Society (2017-2021). He has attended many international workshops and Conferences on AI and its Applications and was certified in 2021 by the Global University Network for Innovation (Africa) and the African Quality Assurance Network as a Certified Accreditor for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Programmes.
Engr. Bayonle Fadayomi
CEO, Brainsoft Systems
Bolarinwa Kemisola is the founder of Next wear Technology, the first wearable technology startup in Nigeria. She is a Robotics and Embedded system Engineer, with exceptional tech skills.
Her work in the field of wearable technology is significant. She developed a wearable solution for safety and invented a Smart Bra device that detects earliest stage Breast Cancer.
Kemisola advocates STEM Education mainly for girls rich is her special passion for bridging the STEM gender gap and attracting young women to choose careers in STEM-related fields.
Gbolade Shada
Software Engineer and Architect
Bolarinwa Kemisola is the founder of Next wear Technology, the first wearable technology startup in Nigeria. She is a Robotics and Embedded system Engineer, with exceptional tech skills.
Her work in the field of wearable technology is significant. She developed a wearable solution for safety and invented a Smart Bra device that detects earliest stage Breast Cancer.
Kemisola advocates STEM Education mainly for girls rich is her special passion for bridging the STEM gender gap and attracting young women to choose careers in STEM-related fields.