TLDR: Despite launching a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Nigeria faces significant hurdles in realizing its AI potential due to inadequate digital infrastructure, high operational costs, and a lack of clear governance frameworks. Experts emphasize the critical need for indigenous data systems, robust cybersecurity, and comprehensive regulatory policies to prevent the nation from becoming merely a consumer of foreign AI technologies and to ensure equitable and beneficial AI development.
Nigeria’s aspirations to become a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) are at risk, according to recent warnings from experts who cite critical deficiencies in infrastructure, high costs, and an underdeveloped regulatory landscape. This comes despite the nation’s recent launch of a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, intended to propel its digital transformation.
One key concern highlighted by tech expert Oladayo Olasupo is Nigeria’s poor data infrastructure and over-reliance on foreign-trained AI models. Olasupo, in a statement on July 23, 2025, emphasized that while government initiatives like the National AI Strategy and funding for startups are commendable, their impact will be limited without high-quality, locally sourced data to train machine learning systems. He noted that current AI tools adopted in Nigeria are often built on datasets reflecting foreign realities, leading to systems that struggle with local languages, contexts, and can even reinforce biases against Nigerian users. The risks extend beyond technical limitations to include ethical, cultural, and economic consequences, particularly in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and education, where AI could offer significant benefits if tailored to local needs. Olasupo stressed that Nigeria, with its diverse population and languages, requires datasets that reflect its unique socio-economic and cultural contexts, advocating for increased investment in infrastructure, skills, and governance to overcome data challenges and set a global standard for AI.
Further compounding these challenges are issues of governance, security, and ethical standards. Speaking at the 2025 Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit & Leadership Awards (ABoICT 2025) on June 3, 2025, Professor Peter Obadare, Chief Visionary Officer of Digital Encode, warned that Nigeria’s rapid embrace of AI without proper governance could transform a technological breakthrough into a national vulnerability. Obadare criticized the growing trend of ‘AI washing,’ where basic automation tools are marketed as AI without genuine technological substance or oversight. He drew parallels to the early internet, where cybersecurity was an afterthought, cautioning against repeating this mistake with AI. He stressed that governance is not a hindrance but a necessary component for safe and responsible innovation, advocating for adherence to global standards like ISO/IEC 42001 and ISO/IEC 38507.
Amrish Singhal, Chief Operations Officer of Spectranet, echoed these sentiments at the same event, acknowledging Nigeria’s potential due to its young, digitally savvy population and growing AI adoption. However, he criticized Nigeria’s current regulatory landscape, including the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and NITDA’s 2023 draft AI framework, as ‘underdeveloped, underfunded, and poorly enforced.’ Both experts emphasized that governance failures, rather than technological flaws, are at the root of many global AI missteps. Singhal proposed a three-tiered strategy for Nigeria’s AI resilience: government-led AI education, creation of innovation sandboxes, and enforcement of data laws; private sector adoption of ethical and secure design practices; and civil society raising awareness of digital rights and AI risks.
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Adding to the concerns, a July 1, 2025 report by Oxford University researchers revealed that only 32 countries globally possess the infrastructure to build advanced AI, leaving most of Africa, including Nigeria, sidelined. The study highlighted that African nations largely remain consumers of foreign AI products rather than developers of their own technologies, limiting their control over digital development. While there are exceptions, such as Cassava Technologies’ partnership with Nvidia to launch an AI factory in South Africa with plans for expansion into Nigeria, experts argue that more such initiatives and an ‘AI Fund’ supported by African nations are needed to reduce dependence and foster meaningful participation in the AI economy. The consensus among experts is clear: without significant investment in robust infrastructure, comprehensive governance frameworks, and a focus on indigenous data, Nigeria risks missing out on the transformative potential of AI and exacerbating existing global inequalities.
