DAta science nigeria workshop at deep learning indaba 2026
Theme: AI on Digital Public Infrastructure: Building Inclusive Public Intelligence Systems in Emerging Economies
Workshop overview
This session examines how AI can be responsibly layered onto DPI to close current gaps such as enabling local-language access, conversational interfaces and inclusive decision-support across health, education and social protection. Multilingual large language models, voice interfaces and grounded public-data systems are treated not as add-ons but as the substrate that turns transactional infrastructure into genuinely public intelligence; systems a rural health worker or an ordinary citizen can actually use, in their own language, to get something done. The session presents a model that stimulates active AI development for public service delivery. The Nigeria AI Scaling Hub (NAISH) presents its model for moving AI solutions from pilot to public-service deployment, anchored on the Scaling AI for Development (SAID) Challenge; an instrument that matches problems articulated by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to operationally piloted Nigerian AI solutions.
Event details
- Date: Thursday, 6th August 2026
- Time: 12:00pm - 1:30pm
- Venue: Pan-Atllantic University, Lagos, Nigeria
- Registration: bit.ly/AI-DPI-WorkshopDLI2026
Agenda
Time
[12:00 – 12:05] Welcome & Opening - Uche Edwin
[12:05 – 12:20] Speaker 1 — Context setting & Foundations: DPI and Local Language AI; the linguistic exclusion challenge - Dr Bayo Adekanmbi
[12:20 – 12:30] Demo of AI+DPI applications, leveraging AI-powered service delivery layer for government services - Uche Edwin
[12:30 – 12:45] NAISH: Strategic framing on the Hub's mandate (AI Strategy alignment, AI/DPI/public services) & Delivery Model National (connecting public problems, proven AI solutions, and critical enablers) - Dr Raymond Onuoha
[12:45 – 1:15 ] Panel session — moderated discussion on Language-aware AI in action and National AI Scaling Hub Model for AI Deployment; open floor for audience Q&A - Dr. Ife Adebara & Mr. Olubunmi Okunowo
[1:15 – 1:20] NAISH SAID Challenge — matching MDA-articulated problems to piloted Nigerian AI solutions - Dr Raymond Onuoha
[1:20 – 1:30] Closing/Appreciation, engagement opportunities, and pictures - Uche Edwin
Session
Speakers
Dr Bayo Adekanmbi
CEO & Founder Data Science Network & EqualyzAI
Dr Ife Adebara
Co-Founder Data Science Network & EqualyzAI
Bunmi Okunowo
Senior Program Officer Digital Public Infrastructure Gates Foundation
Dr Raymond Onuoha
Operations Manager/PMO Lead Nigeria AI Scaling Hub (NAISH)
Uche Edwin
Product Lead Data Science Nigeria