Osinbajo tells Ikenne to aim for AI hub status within 50 years
- Yemi Osinbajo spoke at the 50th Ereke Day celebration in Ikenne, Ogun State, on Friday.
- He proposed a 10-year Ikenne 2036 Plan with clear priorities, costs and yearly targets.
- He wants AI literacy, robotics and teacher retraining in schools, citing Taiwan and a Maiduguri centre as examples.
Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has asked the people of Ikenne in Ogun State to set themselves a big goal: making their town a leading centre for artificial intelligence (AI) and technology in Africa over the next 50 years.
He spoke on Friday at the 50th Ereke Day Anniversary, Community Awards and Investiture of 2026 Ambassadors, organised by the Ikenne Development Association (IDA).
Osinbajo said the coming decades will be shaped by AI, and that Ikenne has what it takes to be at the front of that change. Great transformations, he said, begin with bold ideas that many people doubt at first.
What he proposed
His main suggestion was an "Ikenne 2036 Plan" — a 10-year development blueprint with clear priorities, defined costs and targets that can be measured every year.
Under the plan, he said, Ikenne should build a name as a place for AI-enabled education and for developing AI tools, alongside the existing school curriculum.
He recommended a strong STEAM programme — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics — with AI literacy from primary school, plenty of robotics, AI-powered learning tools and well-equipped laboratories.
Teachers would also need retraining, he said, so they can guide pupils through AI-assisted learning and robotics. He suggested partnerships with Chinese schools that already teach AI well, and a campus dedicated to AI and advanced systems that would solve problems in farming, health, education and finance.
To show that size is no barrier, Osinbajo pointed to Taiwan, a small island about 81 miles from China that makes a large share of the world's microchips.
He also recalled a learning centre in Maiduguri for children orphaned by insurgency. The children could not speak English or Hausa at first, he said, but within five years became skilled in technology, robotics and English once they were given support.
He cited two local examples of big dreams paying off: Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was told by colonial authorities that free education was impossible, and ValueJet, the airline owned by Ikenne son Kunle Soname. Ten years ago, Osinbajo said, few would have believed people could fly from the Ikenne area to Abuja in the morning and return the same day.
He noted that Ikenne already has one of the highest concentrations of small and medium businesses per square kilometre, even without deliberate planning, and said a clear roadmap could achieve far more.
Why it matters
For ordinary residents, the proposal is about jobs and skills. If schools in the town begin teaching AI and robotics early, young people could compete for tech work without leaving home — though the plan is still only an idea, with no funding or timeline announced.
Otunba Olufemi Allen, president of the IDA, called the celebration historic and said Osinbajo's presence added value to the occasion. He said the association remains committed to unity and to preserving Ikenne's cultural heritage for future generations, in line with the ideals of its founders.
The event also featured community awards and the investiture of the 2026 IDA Ambassadors.
What happens next: The sources do not say whether the Ikenne 2036 Plan has been adopted, who will fund it or when work would start.
