Lagos, Nigeria: Nigeria is poised to become Africa’s leading hub for Artificial Intelligence, with its AI market expected to reach $434.4 million by 2026.
Experts say the country could unlock up to $100 billion in annual economic value from generative AI alone, provided it anchors adoption on strong governance and visionary enterprise leadership.
This projection was shared by Prof. Bolanle Oladejo, Head of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Ibadan, during the Centre for Enterprise Governance’s Third Biennial Corporate Governance and Enterprise Development Conference held in Lagos.
Oladejo said that AI adoption was on the rise and transforming various sectors and driving innovation across Nigeria.
She said in the next decade, successful Nigerian enterprise leadership would be shaped by those who could navigate complexity and create value across multiple dimensions simultaneously.
Oladejo recommended the development of a comprehensive AI regulatory framework, the provision of tax relief and innovation grants to address cost barriers, and the establishment of oversight mechanisms for ethical AI.
“Looking forward, I envision a Nigeria where AI-powered enterprises lead Africa, potentially unlocking up to $100 billion in annual economic value from generative AI alone, with Nigeria’s AI market growing to $434.4 million by 2026.
“The quality of enterprise leadership in this transformational moment would determine whether Nigeria emerges as a major economic power in the AI-driven global economy or remains trapped in cycles of unrealised potential,” she said.
The event had the theme:” Redefining Enterprise Leadership in a Changing Nigeria: Artificial Intelligence, Protectionism and Governance in Focus”.
In the same vein, governance and technology stakeholders urged Nigeria to anchor its Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption on governance and quality enterprise leadership to compete as a major player in the AI-driven global economy.
The Founder of CEG, Mr Adeyinka Hassan, said that 78 per cent of companies worldwide had already adopted AI, with nearly half of the figure using it to harness big data.
Hassan said the challenge lay in the fact that while the world was moving at a high speed, Africa was not.
He said that further delay would cause a digital divide and result in an economic gulf.
“This conference is a call to leadership and a call to action, as leadership today is not about titles but about adaptive intelligence – the courage to embrace technology without losing our humanity.
“The choices we make now will decide whether we remain spectators in the AI-driven global economy or rise as architects of Africa’s prosperity,” he said.
Mr Olatokunbo Talabi, Secretary to the Ogun State Government, said that effective governance remained the bedrock for enterprise development.
He said that no matter the power of AI or the trends in global trade, without transparent, accountable and responsive governance, enterprise leadership would not thrive.
Talabi stressed the need to strengthen institutions, promote regulatory clarity, and embrace ethics.
“Enterprise leadership is becoming a demand in Nigeria, and the role of collaboration in this is really what I want to talk about expressly.
“I tell you that the Ogun State Government is ready and willing to work with people that can take us into the next level,” he said.
Mr Kashifu Abdullahi, Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, said the Federal Government had a data governance structure in place – the data protection regulation.
He stated that Nigeria is working to establish laws and regulations to support the development of its hyperscale data centre, positioning the country as a hub for data centre and AI infrastructure in Africa.
He, however, said there was a need to build digital technology sovereignty to enhance data control and minimise data breaches.
“We work with the big techs and startups to design and govern AI and other emerging technologies because we don’t want it to be like when social media started, and people were saying social media was an ungoverned space.
“Already, we have done about three stakeholder engagements on it to help make sure that whatever is illegal offline is also illegal online.
“This is something we need to work together with you all, the private sector, the academia, the startups, because there are things you can do and the government cannot do, and there are things the government can do, you cannot do,” he said.
Mrs Olayemi Keri, Independent Non-Executive Director, First City Monument Bank, said that Al would not guarantee success or failure.
She said that its outcomes would depend on how well organisations would prepare and integrate it.
Keri said that companies that would tie Al directly to business imperatives and invest in strong data governance would see returns.
“For Nigeria, this means AI adoption should not be about chasing global trends but about building wisely step-by-step, investing in infrastructure, governance and context-specific applications that solve real problems.
