When members of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) needed support to educate the 2+ million multilingual residents of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), they turned to Proto, a global leader in conversational AI for emerging markets.
“We are concerned about community spread and providing the right information about the pandemic in our local languages,” said the Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido, Executive Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council, adding, “There is no better time than now to deploy the educational chatbot from Proto.”
The COVID-19 chatbot provides vital healthcare information and symptom checking functions in an aim to counter the spread of misinformation about the virus. Crucially, the chatbot is available across webchat and Facebook for Yoruba and Hausa speakers, in an effort to include as many citizens as possible, who would otherwise be excluded by English-only AI technology.
“Government and healthcare leaders are seeking an effective method to reach as many people as possible with accurate information during the COVID-19 crisis,” said Curtis Matlock, Proto CEO. “The Proto solution provides local language compatibility, which is critical for maximum reach across Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.”
Proto’s natural language processing (NLP) team has customized a COVID-19 chatbot for under-resourced and mixed languages, including Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Swahili, Arabic, Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, and English.
About Proto
Proto serves emerging markets with AI Customer Experience (AICX) solutions for multilingual contact centers. Its technology is powered by a proprietary natural language processing (NLP) engine for non-English and mixed languages. Proto’s deep-learning techniques and domain expertise increase automation rates and maximise customer lifetime value.
About AMAC
The Abuja Municipal Area Council is located in the eastern wing of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. Its Executive Arm is comprised of an elected Chairman and appointed supervisory councillors and special advisers. The bulk of Nigeria's federal institutions, ministries, departments and agencies are located within the precinct of the Area Council.
