Nigeria faces the risk of losing significant economic benefits from artificial intelligence to foreign technology companies unless it invests more aggressively in homegrown AI solutions, computing infrastructure and local expertise, stakeholders warned at a panel session in Abuja. The concern centres on how dependence on AI systems developed abroad could shift jobs, technical expertise and commercial returns outside the country, while limiting Nigeria's influence over how these technologies are designed and deployed to solve local problems.
Alex Tsado, who works in AI infrastructure and technology development, said many AI tools used in Nigeria and other African countries are developed in markets such as the United States, where developers may have limited understanding of the challenges facing their intended users. This disconnect can produce systems that fail to reflect local realities and generate inaccurate results while allowing economic benefits to accrue elsewhere. Tsado stressed the importance of what he called homegrown AI, which would empower Nigerian people to build their own AI solutions, identify problems they want to solve, work with relevant domestic data and retain more jobs created by the industry. He identified a key challenge: the cost of accessing high-performance computing resources, particularly graphics processing units that accelerate AI workloads, could constrain local developers even where government policies encourage domestic innovation. He suggested that incubators and accelerators could help by providing shared legal and regulatory support to startups unable to afford multidisciplinary teams.
Access to reliable computing infrastructure and data centres capable of supporting AI workloads remains critical to Nigeria's ability to develop homegrown AI. Although data centres are being developed locally, many organisations continue to rely on infrastructure located in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Tsado noted that the presence of domestic data centres does not automatically mean Nigerian data is being stored or processed locally. His company, Udu Technologies, had operated AI GPUs from a data centre in Lekki for approximately 18 months without experiencing a shutdown during that period, demonstrating the potential of Nigerian infrastructure for critical operations.
Stakeholders argued that Nigeria should make better use of existing data rather than wait for the massive datasets and computing capacity available in established technology markets. Government institutions, banks, hospitals and businesses already hold information that could support specialised AI applications, subject to appropriate privacy and data protection safeguards. Tsado cited a controlled pilot in a clinic in Kaduna State, where a small GPU was deployed to explore whether an AI system could operate offline and respond to local needs, highlighting how local experimentation could establish what works in Nigeria's operating environment.
Simisola Akintoye, an associate professor of law at Northumbria University and leader of Nigeria's national AI strategy law and policy working group, stressed that accountability must be built into AI systems from the outset. Where an AI application provides incorrect information, responsibility must be traceable to the institutions and organisations involved in developing, deploying and maintaining it. She urged journalists to demand evidence when developers claim their products are accurate, inclusive or trustworthy, including details of accuracy testing, methodology, evaluation conduct and treatment of personal information. Tsado added that journalists should apply consistent standards when assessing both locally developed AI products and those supplied by foreign technology companies, ensuring that scrutinising Nigerian startups without asking comparable questions about international platforms does not disadvantage domestic innovators.
For savers and investors in Nigeria, the outcome will determine whether the country captures jobs, profit and expertise from AI development or primarily becomes a market for foreign products.