Association urges Nigeria, Africa to prepare for 4th Industrial Revolution

MOTOR Mechanic and Technicians Association of Nigeria (MOMTAN) has urged Nigeria and other African countries to be prepared to take advantage of the benefits provided by the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

4IR is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.

It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IOT) and cloud computing. It also creates what has been described as a smart factory.

MOMTAN’s National President, Dr Oseni Suleiman, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

Suleiman said that such preparation would create opportunity for the nation in particular and Africa at large to provide the needed solution to their various challenges.

“Africa did not take part in the first and second industrial revolution and the third industrial revolution nearly passed us by.

“We are now aware of the coming revolution, and must take advantage of it.

“We must position ourselves to leverage the benefits provided by the coming era to provide much needed solutions to our inadequacies,’’ he said.

The association’s chief further urged the government to actively engage in adoption and application of the new technologies.

According to him, the new technologies are already in use even in Nigeria.

He suggested collaborative efforts among government, private sector as well as individuals.

“4IR is predicted to cause exponential disruption on the magnitude greater than the first, second and third industrial revolution combined.

“The era is characterised by the introduction of various technologies such as virtual/augmented reality, nanotechnology, machine learning, big data, cloud computing, drones, self-driving cars, robotics, artificial intelligences, among others,’’ he said.