Africa's First Female Robot Built in Nigeria

A Nigerian technology company located in Abuja, Uniccon Group, has built Africa’s first humanoid Robot and named it ‘Omeife’. The robot was built to characterize a 6 foot tall Igbo Amazon that can speak 8 different languages including Igbo, English, French, Arabic, Pidgin, Wazobia, and Afrikaans. The robot was also built for intellectual abilities and not manual labour and was officially unveiled at the world’s biggest technology event, Gitex, which took place at Dubai World Trade Centre, from October 10th to 14th 2022.

 CEO of Uniccon Group Chuks Ekwueme, has stated that the robot understands gestures but has no facial expressions as a matter of preference by the makers. Ekueme further revealed that the robot is programmed to be African with a good use of native accents as well as avoiding rude remarks. He stated: “It’s not just multilingual, it has the ability to switch languages and interact with specific gestures—hand illustrations, smile and other bodily gestures—that match the tone of the conversation.”

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The company plans to produce the robot in large numbers with a selling price of at least $30,000. Nigerians have showed mixed reactions to the creation of this Igbo robot as many claim that Omeife looks nothing like an Igbo woman and was only dressed as one to promote the "illusion" of Igbo ethnicity.