Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of top companies in Nigeria are pulling their weight behind artificial intelligence (AI) in 2026, with strong hopes that it has potential to boost business growth and improve investors confidence.
At the convening of stakeholders at BusinessDay and PwC Economic Outlook for 2026, managing directors and business founders highlighted the huge potential of AI in boosting companies growth.
Leading the conversation, Femi Osinubi, consulting and risk services leader at PwC, said that only 30 percent of CEOs have seen revenue gains from adopting AI, indicating a need for a shift in focus.
As questions rise about security in AI adoption, Osinubi says trust is the currency for companies willing to pivot into technology.
“Companies with the fewest trust concerns will deliver total shareholder returns, and last year, there were about nine percent shareholder returns, higher than those with five percent concerns,” he said.
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Osinubi called for a reinvention in companies leadership, from engineering departments down to the board rooms, noting that, “if you (companies) reinvent yourself, refresh your organisation’s technology, then we will see the share returns continue to grow”.
According to the technology leader at the audit firm, this growth for companies who will pivot to AI in 2026, would cut across Nigeria to the rest of West Africa.
Adding to the conversation on AI, Wole Abu, managing director of Equinix, said his company is using AI tools to automate a lot of activities, as it saves time, and gets the job done.
He urged CEOs to “keep building solid technology that supports enterprises who are interested”.
Abu noted emphatically that AI is not just a technology, but a digital transformation.
Sharing how the consumer goods firm Cadbury plans to drive growth this year, Folake Ogundipe, acting managing director, noted that the firm plans on leveraging digital tools to ensure that customer needs are met.
For her, distribution expansion takes front row of Cadbury’s 2026 outlook, ensuring that different products of the brand reach consumers even in rural markets.
However, Ogundipe urged for better energy efficiency, stressing that, “for the real sector to be productive, access to affordable energy must be provided”.
The CEOs all echoed similar concerns, AI adoption needs to be supported by strong governance, cybersecurity, and accountability to protect data integrity and enable responsible deployments.
“CEOs have to invest time and resources in developing AI adoption,” said Sam Abu, regional senior partner for West Africa at PwC.
