Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has urged the global community to ensure that humanity, not technology, guides progress as the world accelerates into the digital era.
She made the call while addressing the “Education Above All” plenary session of the 12th World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar.
Speaking alongside her counterparts from Lebanon and Syria, Senator Tinubu highlighted the transformative power of education, emphasising that no religion forbids girls from learning.
She reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to providing children with access to education and opportunities that unlock human potential.
“Everything begins with education. We are doing all we can as a government to advance the education sector. We must collectively look at the bigger picture, knowing that Nigeria has a huge human capital resource and that is what we thrive on,” she said.
The First Lady further lauded Nigerian youths for excelling globally across various fields, including arts, education, fashion, film, and agriculture.
She also highlighted the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for prioritising innovation and technology as foundational to human capital development.
“Nigeria, being an emerging economy, digital literacy has helped us a lot because it is faster and reaches more people. It also comes with its downside. Our young people are either using it for good or negatively. We believe we would keep empowering the young ones in this area and they would do better,” she added.
The summit, which drew over 150,000 participants worldwide, also featured remarks from Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation, who stressed the role of education in connecting young people with new job opportunities.
Other speakers echoed the need to place human values and ethics at the center of technological and educational transformations, particularly with the rise of artificial intelligence.
The 12th WISE summit, themed Humanity.IO: Human Values at the Heart of Education, underscores a growing global consensus that progress is meaningless without human-centered principles guiding it.
