Data Science in Nigeria has come to stay. The movement is new in Nigeria and there is a growing number of new data scientists, competitions and a hub by DSN (Data Science Nigeria is leading Nigeria’s Artificial intelligence, Big Data… ) one of the pioneers of data science movement in Nigeria which now has a hub at the University of Lagos campus. The Hub features modern data collection tools including biometric readers, an AWS AI DeepLens Camera, Google Clips, Intel Movidius Neural Stick, GPS tracking devices, Bionic Nature Observing Device, Internet-of-Things suite, and many others.
DSN has been reported to be committed to supporting Nigerian students and encouraging them to turn their academic research into innovative start-ups or social enterprises aligned with millennial developmental goals. DSN has a particular interest in solving local problems in the fields of health, education, agriculture, and financial inclusion.
Many data science agencies or consulting firms are expected to spring up in Nigeria soon as Nigerian professionals, academicians and entrepreneurs have gotten the wind of data science movement in the western world and are already acquiring the skills, getting involve in Kaggle competitions, learning Bootcamp/Hackathon and are being mentored by few local and a handful international data scientist through the DSN #MentorAfricanDataScientists programme.
The emergence of data science in Nigeria could give rise to young entrepreneurs or new start-ups learning how to use machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to help solve the countries economic and business environment problems.
