The Chief Information Officer of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NGX), Afeez Ramoni, has explained the reason Nigeria’s banking, telecommunications, legal and other sectors prefer artificial intelligence (AI) virtual assistants for service delivery in the country.
Ramoni shared this insight during the July edition of the Nairametrics webinar themed, ‘How to Make Money Using AI: Value Creation for Businesses, Entrepreneurs, and Government.’
Ramoni said AI has revolutionize Nigeria’s banking industry with the introduction of virtual assistants such as Leo and Ziva, among others.
He added that similar trends can be observed in the country’s legal and telecommunication sectors, enabling innovation, growth and economic opportunities in these industries.
For Ramoni, the use of AI virtual assistants in these sectors is the most common resource of AI to drive inclusion, growth and productivity.
“In 2019, one of the banks in Nigeria released a virtual assistant called Leo. And today, one can chat with that virtual assistant. That is an implementation of AI. That’s provides solution to problems.
“We also have another implementation by another bank called Ziva. It’s also an AI-powered chat box that allows interactions with bank customers.
“If you look also the legal services, there is also AI resources that help the Nigerian lawyers to do legal research, review legal opinions, litigation and legal drafting. With a tool like Timi for example, it’s a product of Law Pavilion. They can get into law reports and other civil procedures. In fact, Nigerians can get legal procedures from such AI platform.
“In telecommunication, we’ve seen Zigi from MTN. It’s also an AI-powered virtual assistant.
“In essence, virtual assistants have been the most used case by Nigerians companies,” Ramoni said.
AI in Transportation Sector
In addition, Ramoni said there has also been the integration of AI in the transportation sector, providing different data for transportation use the country.
Ramoni highlighted AI tools use in Nigeria such as Lara.ng that can predict impending traffic jam, determine transportation cost as well as road conditions in different locations.
He said these innovations are providing necessary solutions and opportunities to myriad of Nigerians despite the obvious economic challenges in the country.
“Also, there is a virtual assistant that helps Nigerians to determine public transport, traffic situation, cost of transport. It’s called Lara.ng.
“Nigerians are really rising to the opportunities. Because as many as the challenges we have in Nigeria so also are the opportunities. We have the advent of smartphones which is transitioning into a smart estate.
We’ve seen this gradual adoption of AI to streamline process, improve customer service and provide support to customers,” Ramoni said.
Investment Opportunities in the Capital Market
Furthermore, the CIO of Nigeria’s stock exchange also highlighted the immense opportunities embedded in the use of AI to drive investment in the capital market.
He said the regulatory body of Nigeria’s capital market, Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), has inaugurated a committee to help drive investment opportunities with AI-powered technologies and ensure seamless onboarding of investors in the market.
“Nigeria regulatory body for the capital market, SEC, has also seen the rise of artificial intelligence in investment sector. We now have the use of AI for investment analysis in the market.
“This has led to the inauguration of a committee that now looks into data implementation, privacy and investment opportunities through the use of AI,” he said.
Click here to watch the full video of the webinar, where other experts spoke on AI opportunities in Nigeria.
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