Nigeria is at risk of becoming permanently dependent on foreign artificial intelligence (AI) technologies unless it significantly increases investment in developing indigenous AI models, datasets and computing infrastructure, according to a new report.

The report, Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria: A Macro and Micro Economic Review, warned that while AI adoption is accelerating across the country, Nigeria remains largely a consumer of technologies developed abroad, exposing critical sectors to external control and limiting the country’s ability to capture the full economic value of the AI revolution.

Authored by Debola Ibiyode, Founder and Executive Director of the AI Empowerment Foundation and Founder and CEO of CarbonAI, the review was conducted by OLGNova alongside AI in Action Now.

What the report is saying

According to the report, Nigerians are increasingly relying on foreign-built AI models, cloud infrastructure and software platforms, while contributing relatively little to the development of foundational AI models, indigenous datasets or domestic computing infrastructure.

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The report warned that this imbalance allows valuable Nigerian data to strengthen foreign-owned technologies while exposing local institutions to risks arising from changing licensing policies, service disruptions and external control of critical digital infrastructure.

It noted that although Nigeria has emerged as one of Africa’s fastest adopters of AI, the country has yet to build the institutional, technological and human capacity needed to sustain long term AI development.

  • “Flip open a phone in a bustling Lagos tech hub, step into a university hospital, or visit a farm in the Middle Belt, and it quickly becomes clear that Nigeria is not failing at AI; it is adopting AI faster than it is building the institutional, infrastructural, and human foundations needed to sustain and own that adoption,” Ibiyode stated in the report.

AI adoption accelerating across sectors

The review found that more than 70% of Nigerians have interacted with generative AI tools, while 93% of surveyed organisations have begun adopting AI technologies.

  • Nearly one third of those organisations have already integrated AI into advanced business operations.
  • It also highlighted Nigeria’s growing contribution to AI research, noting that local scholars have produced more than 11,600 AI-related academic publications, with the University of Ibadan leading research output.

According to the report, AI is already delivering measurable benefits across key sectors of the economy.

  • In the public sector, initiatives such as the Federal Civil Service’s Service Wise GPT are improving service delivery, while AI-powered traffic management pilots in Lagos and Abuja have reportedly reduced peak-hour travel times by 20%.
  • The report added that AI is supporting healthcare by helping doctors analyse radiological scans, diagnose birth asphyxia in newborns and expand access to mental health services through AI powered chatbots.

In agriculture, AI advisory platforms are increasing crop yields by between 20% and 30% while reducing production costs. Predictive maintenance and route optimisation are also helping manufacturers and retailers reduce food waste and transportation delays.

Indigenous AI development remains limited

Despite the rapid uptake of AI applications, the report argued that Nigeria’s biggest challenge is the widening gap between AI consumption and AI creation.

It noted that the country’s dependence on foreign AI technologies could weaken its digital sovereignty as local institutions remain reliant on overseas providers for core AI infrastructure and services.

The review also warned that most leading AI models are trained predominantly on English language datasets, limiting their ability to accurately interpret indigenous Nigerian languages such as Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.

According to the report, this could reduce the relevance and effectiveness of AI solutions deployed within Nigeria unless greater investment is made in developing local language datasets.

What you should know

Just last month, Nigeria was ranked highest in Africa in the second edition of the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI), ranking 38th globally with an overall score of 45.93.

The report also identifies Nigeria as a global “Bright Spot” for its approach to preparing citizens for the AI era while simultaneously protecting them from the technology’s potential harms.

While the report confirms the rapid adoption of AI in the country, the ranking recognized the efforts the government is putting in place in driving AI governance, rather than the country’s local capacity in AI.