The government has been asked to invest heavily in training the youth on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help the country catch up with other developed countries.
According to former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga if the youth in the country could be imparted with AI skills, they will be in high demand in the world’s job market.
“Today we have this technology called the AI and it is helping people create a lot of wealth and if we can impart the A.I skills to our youth they will be on high demand around the world. This is what is going to help us leapfrog or catch up with other countries which are ahead of us,” said Raila.
The former Prime minister, who was speaking during the graduation ceremony of over 200 students of Siaya Community Digital hub said that in 1963 Kenyan and Korean economies were at par in all parameters but today, the Korean economy is forty times bigger than ours because of its investment in its youth and infrastructure that attracted investors.
He said that Africa is currently experiencing youth implosion with 75% of its population being below the age 35 a situation which can either be a curse or blessing depending on how the youthful population is handled.
” If the youth are given requisite skills and have knowledge, then they become motivated for development, but without requisite skills, they become delinquent, drug addicts and a bother to the society,” Raila said.
Raila said that Kenya should emulate India and China which have been able to train its people and create infrastructure and a conducive environment to attract investors. “Within 50 years, China has been asked to move a population of 500 million out of poverty to the middle class. Africans can do the same by training their people and putting up better infrastructure to attract investors,” said Raila.
He on the other hand urged the government to decide on going nuclear to address energy shortage in the country.
Raila said with a nuclear power plant that is able to produce 5 megawatts to the power grid, the country will not only solve its power problems but will attract and move investors who will come to enjoy low costs of production.
“When I was minister for energy, I proposed the introduction of nuclear power to solve our energy problems but some people were only thinking of nuclear bombs. There is something called peaceful use of nuclear energy,” he said
The graduation ceremony was also attended by Siaya senator Dr Oburu Oginga, the founder of the hub, who said that some of the graduates will be absorbed to work at the hub’s Business Outsourcing Center, targeting local and international jobs.
The occasion was attended by Siaya County Assembly speaker George Okode and MCAs.
By Brian Ondeng
