Labels: Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Tech, Nigeria Illustration: a digitally connected Africa; Obasanjo says Nigeria must build the capacity to understand and control AI rather than depend on foreign powers. (Illustrative image) (Image: Fo) Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that artificial intelligence could become another instrument of foreign control over Africa unless Nigeria and its neighbours build the capacity to understand, regulate and own the technology themselves. He spoke on Friday, October 30, at the third Ajibosin Annual Symposium, held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta under the theme "Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Solve Grassroots Problems and Accelerate National Development." What exactly did Obasanjo say about AI?Obasanjo admitted he is no engineer, but argued that is precisely the point: the dangers of uncontrolled AI mean Nigerians must understand the technology well enough to control how it is used, the News Agency of Nigeria reported through Peoples Gazette. He flagged AI-generated content that can manipulate and distort identities as a live danger, and he tied the AI question to a warning he has sounded for decades about adopting foreign technologies and economic prescriptions without examining their implications. He recalled the slave trade, colonialism, globalisation and structural adjustment policies as successive waves that reshaped Africa on other people's terms, and questioned Nigeria's dependence on prescriptions from institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Why is AI sovereignty such a live issue for Africa?The symposium's guest speaker, historian and convener of the League of Northern Democrats, Dr Umar Ardo, sharpened the argument. AI, he warned, could extend Africa's long history of economic extraction, describing unchecked data harvesting as "the slave ship, refitted as the server farm" (Daily Trust). He argued that AI cannot confer sovereignty on a society that has not secured control over its own institutions, priorities and resources, and proposed a framework anchored on technological sovereignty, data protection, indigenous innovation, grassroots development and continental cooperation (Vanguard). He acknowledged the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 as an important step for citizens' privacy but said privacy protection alone is not the same as data sovereignty. Daily Post's account adds his list of the infrastructure Nigeria would actually need to build: chip fabrication, data centres, African-owned datasets and continental coordination through the African Union Data Policy Framework. Without them, he said, AI becomes an instrument through which Africa is managed rather than one through which Africa manages its own destiny. Where could AI make the biggest difference in Nigeria?Obasanjo pointed to agriculture, food security, healthcare delivery and pharmaceutical production as areas where AI could contribute measurably, asking whether AI could help Nigeria determine which crops to produce, and in what quantity, for food and nutrition security (Daily Trust). NewsclickNG adds that he warned technologies developed elsewhere could be turned against countries that lack the capacity to regulate and manage them, citing misleading AI-generated material as evidence that proper safeguards should come before adoption. What does this mean going forward?The interesting shift is where this debate now sits. Nigeria's AI conversation has largely been about startups, funding and showcases; the Abeokuta symposium framed it as a question of ownership and control instead, putting it in the same conversation as the country's data centres, its data protection law and its digital infrastructure. Those building blocks already exist on paper, from the planned one-billion-dollar AI-ready data centres in Lagos and Delta State to federal cybersecurity mandates. What the symposium adds is the political argument that none of it counts as sovereignty if the data, the compute and the models stay abroad. Frequently asked questionsWhat did Obasanjo say about AI? He warned against the dangers of uncontrolled AI, said Nigeria must build the capacity to understand and control the technology, and urged directing it at grassroots problems like agriculture and healthcare. Where and when did he say it? At the third Ajibosin Annual Symposium at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, on Friday, October 30, 2026. Who is Dr Umar Ardo? A historian and public policy scholar who convenes the League of Northern Democrats; he delivered the symposium's guest lecture on AI and African sovereignty. What is the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023? Nigeria's principal law protecting citizens' personal data, which Ardo called an important step that still falls short of full data sovereignty. Sources: News Agency of Nigeria via Peoples Gazette (October 30, 2026); Daily Trust (October 30, 2026); Vanguard (October 30, 2026); Daily Post Nigeria (October 30, 2026); NewsclickNG (October 31, 2026). |
0 Comments