Nigeria’s AI Vision: Promise and Challenges

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently engaged in a high-profile discussion with Google CEO Sundar Pichai on X (formerly Twitter), signaling Nigeria’s ambition to become a key player in AI and digital innovation. The conversation focused on five strategic areas: improved cloud infrastructure, digital skills development, supporting AI research, promoting cloud adoption, and global positioning.

A particularly promising initiative is Nigeria’s collaboration with Awarri Technologies to develop a large language model (LLM) for Nigerian languages. Given the country’s vast linguistic diversity, such an LLM could revolutionize AI accessibility and application across sectors — education, agriculture, manufacturing and the like.

Skepticism and the Infrastructure Question

Although the Google-Tinubu conversation has generated much excitement, not everyone shares it. A user on X, D.O.G.E – Naija, voiced sharp criticism, warning potential investors about Nigeria’s infrastructure deficits—namely, persistent power shortages, poor healthcare facilities, and overly complex taxation systems. This skepticism was widely expressed by commentators and points to a more profound concern—If Nigeria does not first address the pre-existing condition of underdevelopment, how can any AI venture truly succeed?

Another user, Alger, took a contrary view, emphasizing the net benefits of investing in “AI enablers and adopters.“ This effectively supports Tinubu’s implicit argument that it is more helpful to focus on long-term benefits than immediate challenges. They argue that while Nigeria’s severe infrastructure and governance deficits remain problematic, strategic investment in AI can catalyze systemic improvements.

A Balanced Perspective

The arguments of the skeptics and optimists make a lot of sense. Nigeria’s infrastructure challenges are undeniable, but rejecting AI investment entirely is short-sighted. AI actually offers multiple opportunities for Nigeria to achieve development-focused objectives: baseload power is guaranteed, power distribution is optimized, governance capacity is enhanced, and healthcare and education delivery is on an irreversible trajectory of improvement.

So the obvious question is: Can Tinubu’s Nigeria guarantee that AI investments and the partnership with Google are transformative and not just performative? A constructive critique should focus on pushing for policy reforms, ensuring that AI investments address real-world challenges rather than serving as superficial prestige projects.

Nigeria’s Strength Lies in Its Diversity

Nigeria—and Africa as a whole—has a unique advantage that extends beyond physical geography. Its true strength is in its living laboratory of human creativity. With thousands of languages and ethnic groups, Nigeria is uniquely positioned to drive breakthrough AI innovations that serve both domestic needs and global markets.

Harnessing this diversity is key to addressing Africa’s most pressing development challenges. AI should not be viewed in isolation but as part of a broader ecosystem that leverages public-private partnerships. Companies like Google and Alger can collaborate with governments and research institutions to:

• Support AI-driven public sector reforms
• Fund and develop AI models that address local challenges
• Establish data repositories for AI research and development
• Create AI solutions for agriculture, health, and education

My Take

For Nigeria and other African countries to unlock AI’s full potential, they must take a dual approach:

1. Partner with global AI leaders like Google to build domestic expertise and investment.
2. Fix governance and business bottlenecks, ensuring that AI deployment proceeds in sustainable and impactful ways.

AI integration is best pursued as a means of transformation, not just a status symbol. If properly integrated, AI can accelerate Nigeria’s economic and technological growth, creating tangible benefits for its people.

The global AI race is already underway. Nigeria has the talent, diversity, and creativity to be a leader—but only if it builds AI on a strong policy, infrastructure, and public-private cooperation foundation.