The Anambra State Government will prioritize artificial intelligence (AI)-driven public infrastructure, capacity development and smart governance as key pillars of Governor Charles Soludo’s second-term administration.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State ICT Agency, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata (CFA), made this disclosure today during a virtual interactive session with Lagos-based technology journalists.
According to Agbata, the agency will build on the state’s established digital foundation, scaling existing initiatives while introducing emerging technologies to drive administrative efficiency and public service delivery across the state.
Unveiling the agency’s strategic roadmap, Agbata revealed that Anambra has already begun deploying a customized, open-source AI framework to power its smart governance tools.
Addressing the practical considerations of deploying frontier technology at the sub-national level, Agbata emphasized that the state opted for an agile, cost-effective approach rather than training a foundational Large Language Model (LLM) from scratch.
“To be clear: this is an open-source system. We did not build a proprietary frontier model or a base Large Language Model, as that requires massive computational and financial resources beyond our current reach in Nigeria,” Agbata explained.
“Instead, we took an existing open-source model and are actively training and adapting it for our specific local needs. As of now, our first major use case is live: we have used this custom AI system to automate our agency’s internal operations end-to-end,” he added.
Agbata noted that the state’s deliberate focus on digital transformation earned national recognition at the National Council on Digital Innovation, where Anambra was celebrated for its smart governance implementations.
Reflecting on his reappointment by Governor Soludo, Agbata shared that his second-term directive centers on deepening these successes and using AI as an accelerator for broader economic development.
Beyond administrative automation, the ICT agency’s vision encompasses expanding digital infrastructure across urban and rural clusters, deepening local capacity building, and integrating smart tools into civil service workflows.
Acknowledging the critical role of private sector partners, regional tech hubs, and the press, Agbata commended media stakeholders in Lagos and Anambra for spotlighting the state’s technology milestones.
He reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to transparent governance, ecosystem building, and sustainable public-private partnerships as Anambra positions itself as a leading technology and innovation hub in South-Eastern Nigeria.