By ERICJAMES OCHIGBO

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas has promised that the 10^th National Assembly will provide legal framework to regulate the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the country.

Abbas said this at the 2023/2024 matriculation of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS)/University of Benin (UniBen) in Abuja on Monday.

Represented by the Minority Leader, Rep. Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers), Abbas said that the parliament was aware of the global advancement on AI.

He said that other countries had advanced their educational systems and had continued to explore opportunities in AI to optimise their human capital development.

“To key into this emerging development, the 10^th National Assembly will strive to provide a legal framework for regulating the adoption of AI in our country to ensure an optimal mix of labour-capital ratio in our nation’s development process.

“In this direction, NILDS is expected to look into the possibilities of providing research-based intellectual support to facilitate the actualisation of this very important modern process,” he said.

Abbas pledged continuous support of the National Assembly for NILDS and urged the new students to attend lectures regularly, do assignments promptly, and obey all the rules and regulations that were contained in the student handbook.

In her remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of UniBen, Prof. Lilian Salami, said that the university had made some giant academic strides.

“This all-around excellence has resulted in a large number of students seeking admission into the university and the institute yearly.

“We shall continue to ensure that the template is sustained and that our students get the best in academic fulfilment and character moulding because these are vital elements expected to make our products globally competitive and marketable.

“As the new students settle down for serious academic work, please remember that your role is to add value to the democratic process and not to degrade it; be worthy of this opportunity and we expect merit.

“As mature students, no one needs to emphasise to you that social biases are acceptable at all levels in this institute,’’ she said.

Also speaking, the Director-General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said that the 2023/2024 session was unique as a total of 180 students was admitted.

He said that for the first time, the institution recorded the enrolment of foreign students into its postgraduate programmes.

“This is a testament to the increased quality of our academic programmes at NILDS,” he said.

Sulaiman said that the feat would not have been possible without the commitment of the National Assembly, the University of Benin, the Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the National Board for Technical Education.

The DG said that the best students would be recognised and offered prize awards at the end of the programme saying that the institute had invested several resources to ensure equal opportunity for all.

The 180 students were admitted for Master’s Degree in Constitutional Law and Development, Legislative Studies, and Master’s in Elections and Party Politics.

Others were Master in Laws (LLM), Legislative Drafting, Master in Parliamentary Administration, and the Post Graduate Diploma in Elections and Political Party Management. (NAN)

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