Centenary: Prof Nnaji Urges FG To Prioritize Technology Genuinely, Extols Enugu Bigard Seminary 

In his paper titled: “The Impact of Technology on the Nigerian Educational System: Prospects and Challenges”, Professor Nnaji, noted, “Any nation that wishes to be competitive in the 21st century prioritizes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

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“Vietnam has joined the ranks of competitive nations by prioritizing STEM. It produces 90,000 STEM graduates annually, yet its talent pool remains insufficient as leading global multinationals like Apple and Nvidia, along with Chinese firms, compete to manufacture advanced technology in Vietnam. Vietnamese school children now outperform their peers in mathematics in both Israel and Britain. The stories of India and China transforming into manufacturing hubs and technology centers through STEM investment are well-known and need not be repeated here.

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On the centenary celebration, the Geometric Power boss said, “It is a great honor to be invited to speak at the 100th anniversary of Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, one of the largest major seminaries globally. With approximately 780 students – all candidates for the challenging Catholic priesthood – Bigard holds a distinguished international reputation.

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“Indeed, any institution that, within just a century, has produced four Cardinals (including the highly respected Francis Cardinal Arinze, former Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments), 14 Archbishops, 37 Bishops, and thousands of priests not only from Nigeria but also from Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia, has secured its place in history.

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“Established in 1922 by Bishop Joseph Shanahan at St. Paul’s Seminary in Onitsha, now in Anambra State, and commissioned two years later with only six students, Bigard serves as a testament to the biblical parable of the mustard seed—tiny at first but grown into a towering tree. Perhaps this parable inspired Christopher Okigbo, arguably Africa’s most captivating poet in English, who wrote in one of his memorable poems, “he was a shrub among the trees,” a line that alludes to his meteoric rise as an exceptional poet.

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“I may not have attended a seminary, whether junior or major, but I am proud of my solid foundation in Catholic education. I began primary school at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Oruku, then moved to live with my uncle, who was headmaster at St. James School Ugbawka, and later completed my primary education at St. Anthony’s Catholic School, Obe, all within the Nkanu area. After the civil war, I attended St. Patrick’s College in Emene, Enugu, and later St. John’s University in New York. I owe much of my values to this rich Catholic upbringing. I am proud of values popularized by Pope St. John Paul II, symbolizing solidarity with humanity. I refer to values such as sharing, inclusion, diversity, and social justice.

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“Perhaps due to my background as a Professor of Engineering specializing in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at American universities, I have been asked to speak on the “Impact of Technology on the Nigerian Educational System: Challenges and Prospects.” This is a broad topic that could easily consume considerable time, so I’ll make only a few remarks about technology and the future of our society.

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“Recently, experts have noted that STEM alone is insufficient for sustained global competitiveness. Professor Philip Kotler, the renowned marketing guru, economist, and management expert, has suggested that every competitive nation should pair robust STEM programs with top-notch economics and management schools, which he recommends keeping distinct due to their unique importance.

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“There is merit in this suggestion. In the United States, the technology industry isn’t driven solely by Silicon Valley but also by economics and business schools at Stanford, the University of Southern California, Harvard, Wharton, MIT, and many others. Imagine if NASA’s leadership were left solely to excellent scientists and engineers lacking management skills; the agency would likely collapse. Anyone running a major enterprise in Nigeria or abroad needs a basic understanding of economics—including international economics—to maintain competitiveness. They must foresee, for instance, how a spike in international crude oil prices will affect Nigeria’s petroleum prices and the broader economy, and then proactively address these implications.

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“Embracing cutting-edge technology is essential for individuals and nations alike. Today’s most valuable companies are technology giants: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, etc. Nvidia, founded in 1994 by a 30-year-old American of Taiwanese descent, Jensen Huang, and his peers, is now worth more than three trillion dollars ($3 trillion). Its chips, essential for generative artificial intelligence, are in high demand worldwide. Not to be outdone in the AI race, Intel—the traditional leader in semiconductors—has announced plans for its own superchips, claiming they will surpass Nvidia’s. Last quarter alone, Amazon reported a $15.3 billion profit thanks to superchips!

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“Since November 30, 2022, when Sam Altman and his team at OpenAI introduced ChatGPT as the face of the large language model (LLM), the world has been transformed. LLMs are vast deep-learning models pre-trained on massive datasets, with underlying transformers—a series of neural networks including an encoder and decoder with self-attention capabilities—that can derive meaning from text sequences and understand the relationships between words and phrases.

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“Unlike earlier recurrent neural networks (RNNs) that sequentially process inputs, transformers process entire sequences in parallel, enabling data scientists to use GPUs to train LLMs more rapidly. Transformer-based architectures allow for massive models, often with hundreds of billions of parameters, drawing from vast sources like Common Crawl, which includes over 50 billion web pages, and Wikipedia, with around 57 million pages. LLMs can tackle problems across many areas of life, often with remarkable accuracy and speed. Generative AI can now produce music, write novels, edit scripts, diagnose diseases, and more—often surpassing human abilities.

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“In the medical field, AI is revolutionizing practice with unprecedented accuracy, even detecting cancer at its earliest stages. No doctor today can advance far without using AI. AI can register patients, retrieve medical histories in seconds, and perform other crucial tasks.

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“AI is also driving autonomous vehicles, transforming legal practice with complex legal opinions, and reshaping banking, accounting, communication, and virtually every field. This surge in AI usage has led to an increasing demand for electricity since AI requires substantial power. As a result, technology firms are now signing agreements with nuclear power providers. Although nuclear energy has fewer raw material demands than traditional power sources, it carries significant risks. For example, Japan has struggled with wastewater disposal since the 2011 Tsunami, dealing with both environmental groups and concerned neighboring countries.

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“AI presents several risks. I mentioned earlier how AI can be used to deceive or manipulate audiences with deepfakes—videos so sophisticated they appear real. Students now use AI for assignments, leading to plagiarism, though many don’t realize AI’s citations and calculations aren’t always accurate. AI also incorporates inherent biases from its training data. Some worry about job losses due to AI, as companies in the UK, for example, have replaced customer service roles with AI. Perhaps the greatest concern is AI’s autonomy; it operates independently of its creators, raising fears that increasing autonomy might lead to accidents or biological disasters. This has led some to view AI as an existential threat.

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“Technology leaders like Bill Gates, Tim Cook, and Mustafa Suleyman advocate for global AI regulation, similar to how nuclear energy is regulated. I am on record supporting this call, as it would be disastrous if non-state actors deployed AI to cause havoc in ungoverned areas. The European Union has shown leadership by setting AI research and development guidelines. Washington should move past fears that AI regulation supports Beijing’s censorship; nuclear regulation hasn’t stifled dissent but has protected humanity.

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“AI is already present in Nigeria. It’s no longer a question of “if” but “when” it will reach an industrial scale. Banks and telecoms here are already feeling the strain as their tech professionals emigrate to Europe, North America, or work remotely for foreign firms. Consequently, mass resignations have led to poor network service from banks and telecom companies.

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Nnaji recalled that in 2018, he applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to establish the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Nigeria, stressing that approval came only in 2021, after a lengthy review by the Attorney General’s office.

“At the time, AI had not yet become a dominant global economic driver. Our institute is established:

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“To provide computer science education focusing on intelligent machines and robotics, issuing certifications to graduates.

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To train and certify in designing external hardware that performs autonomous tasks.

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To conduct research on developing algorithms for intelligent behavior with minimal human intervention”, he stated.

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“This year, Bells University of Technology in Ota, Ogun State, where I am Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, announced plans to build a Center for Research and Development in Artificial Intelligence. This idea was inspired by the university’s promoter, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a visionary leader.