Awarri engages 500 3MTT fellows to build Nigeria’s Multilingual AI model

The Nigerian startup, Awarri, selected to build the country’s first AI, has engaged over 500 fellows from the federal government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program as data collectors in the development of a Large Language Multilingual Model. This initiative was disclosed by the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, on Wednesday, highlighting the government’s commitment to creating more jobs in the tech sector.

“I’m glad to see the growth of the Awarri team since its launch in November 2023 to 120 staff, with an additional engagement of over 500 fellows from our 3MTT Nigeria programme as data collectors, as they build Nigeria’s first Large Language Multilingual Model. Looking forward to seeing more companies in the space as we slowly but surely build a technology workforce that will contribute to global AI development,” stated Dr. Tijani in a post on X Wednesday night.

Awarri’s Journey and Nigeria’s AI Model

Awarri commenced operations with 100 AI jobs in Ikorodu in November last year. The startup offers a full-stack range of services from data gathering to model creation and AI application development.

At the conclusion of a 4-day AI workshop in Abuja in April, Dr. Tijani announced the launch of Nigeria’s first Multilingual Large Language Model (LLM). The AI tool was developed through a partnership involving AwarriTech, DataDotOrg, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the National Centre for AI and Robotics (NCAIR).

“The LLM will be trained in 5 low-resource languages and accented English to ensure stronger language representation in existing datasets for the development of Artificial Intelligence solutions. The project will also be supported by over 7,000 fellows from the 3MTT Nigeria program,” the Minister added.

Government Commitment to Technical Skills Training

As part of the ongoing technical skills training, the government has promised to facilitate jobs for the 3MTT fellows, aligning with President Tinubu’s promise of creating a million tech jobs within the first two years of his administration.

Announcing the selection of fellows for the second cohort of the program, Dr. Tijani noted that many fellows from the first cohort were being placed into internships across the country. The 3MTT program, a key component of the Renewed Hope agenda, aims to build Nigeria’s technical talent backbone to power its digital economy and position Nigeria as a net talent exporter.

The program began with 30,000 Nigerians, representing 1% of the 3 million target, and the selection of 270,000 for the second cohort brings the number to 10%. To achieve the program’s target, different phases will be executed based on a framework co-created with key stakeholders across government agencies, training providers, educational institutions, development agencies, and the private sector.