Nigeria Committed to Emerging Strong Player in Artificial Intelligence, Says NITDA DG

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has affirmed Nigeria’s strong commitment to becoming a key player in the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape, outlining a comprehensive strategic roadmap during his presentation at the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance engagement in Abuja.

This strategy, anchored by the National AI Strategy, is designed to achieve prosperity and industrial growth by expanding connectivity, developing sovereign cloud platforms, and building clean national datasets, with the Nigerian Startup Act serving as the institutional framework for nurturing the startup and innovator ecosystem.

Inuwa detailed the active integration of AI into key sectors, including healthcare for faster diagnosis, agriculture for better yield prediction, manufacturing for cutting inefficiencies, and education, projecting that this integration will lead to a “ten times” increase in productivity without replacing humans.

He stressed that inclusivity is central, as digitally invisible citizens risk being excluded from AI’s decision-making, emphasizing that the overall journey is about positioning Nigeria as a global leader in shaping the future of artificial intelligence.