30 students of the University of Ibadan have undergone a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence training (AI training). The program is powered by Infinix and the United Nations Education and Socio-Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and facilitated by Cog Labs. The AI training which held at the Infinix ICT Resource Centre, is meant to empower the students with these emerging tech skills so that they too will become peer trainers who will be empowered to facilitate such training among young people in their communities.
This is in furtherance of UNESCO’s goal of bringing STEM education, artificial intelligence, and robotics to a wider range of people and making them accessible to everyone. The Ibadan program is the second to be held in Nigeria, with the first happening in Abuja earlier in the year. According to UNESCO, the organization has been working towards this program for the past four years.
In her opening remarks, Oluwayemisi Ode, PR Manager for Infinix Nigeria said Infinix aims to empower students with state-of-the-art tools and skills necessary for success in today’s digital world. She said through this AI training, the company will be bringing new modules in AI, robotics, and programming, while enabling hands-on, practical experiences.
“This aligns with our belief that Nigeria’s youth are not just beneficiaries of technology—they are the innovators who will drive tomorrow’s advancements. Our partnership with the University of Ibadan plays a vital role in shaping technologically proficient leaders of tomorrow. We share this vision wholeheartedly with UNESCO, Google and other partners, and remain committed to fostering similar collaborative opportunities across Nigeria. Together, we are paving the way for an inclusive, empowered digital future in Nigeria,” she said.
The Infinix/UNESCO AI training
Joan Nadal, a UNESCO AI and robotics trainer, and Eugene Masinde, a data analyst and Trainer of the CogLabs UNESCSO STEM program will facilitate the training. 30 students will participate in the AI training while the top 20 will be certified as COGLabs Trainers. The programs include; Introduction to AI with Teachable Machine, Introduction to Coding with Scratch, and Introduction to Coding with CogLabs.
Others include Creating Machine Learning Models, Games with Scratch, Testing Smartphone Sensors, Presenting and Setting up E3bot, and a robotics challenge.
The selected trainers will be granted unfettered access to the Infinix Resource Centre to aid their work. They will also be supported financially with cash stipends as well as branded materials like T-shirts, bags and promotional items that will help them to train their peers. They will also be getting robots and Infinix phones to continue their learning as well as assistance in setting up their own events.
Speaking about the essence of the program for the students and the university, the Dean of Students Affairs of the university, represented by the head of the Department of Linguistics, Dr Demola Lewis, pointed out that whatever conventional education students receive in the university has to be complimented by AI and other digital skills.
He said the university has been on the lookout for assistance from the private sector and from non-governmental organisations to help out with this aspect of the training because such training would entail a lot of resources that are not available to the university as it is.
“We are very happy to partner with Infinix and UNESCO to help train our students in these IT skills so that they can apply it to the kind of innovations that they develop within their different careers and things like that. So education without AI right now is defective and you won’t be able to penetrate the professional space if you do not have sufficient AI training. So we are very happy that this is happening because our students are hungry for this as you would find out in the turnout, and there are loads and loads of others,” he said.
Speaking about the essence of the training to her, a participating student, Tijani Ruth noted that AI education is something that is very deficient in developing countries like Nigeria. Thus, she is hoping that through the program, she is able to learn more about the use of AI in everyday endeavours and solve basic problems affecting society and people.
“I want to be a trainer, which is the main purpose of the program. A very important skill for any person who wishes to excel in life is multitasking. I want to believe that I have hacked that. I believe that if I am selected as one of the trainers, I would be able to make do. I have a community that is constantly helping. I want to believe that if I am selected I will not have a problem joggling with school work,” she said.
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