Nigeria has an urgent need to build Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions rooted in its local realities, rather than relying on imported technologies designed for foreign markets.
Debola Ibiyode, convener of the AI in Action Now conference, described contextual AI as the development of AI solutions tailored specifically to Nigeria’s social, economic, and cultural environment.
“Gone are the days when we were using European products built for their context,” Ibiyode said at the ‘AI in Action Now conference’, Lagos. “We should start building for our own context so we can take advantage and get the solution that fits us better, faster.”
She highlighted how AI is dramatically reducing development timelines, noting that applications that previously took a year to build can now be completed in weeks or even days with AI-assisted development tools.
While the majority of Nigerians are already using some form of Artificial Intelligence, the country is only just beginning to explore AI’s real potential for business and governance, Dotun Adeoye, co-founder of AI-in-Nigeria, said.
Google and Ipsos ‘Our Life with AI’ 2026 report has revealed that 93 per cent of Nigerians now use artificial intelligence, AI, to learn and understand complex topics, significantly higher than the global average of 74 per cent.
Beyond education, the report reveals that 88 per cent of Nigerian adults have used an AI chatbot, representing an 18-percentage-point increase from the previous year and placing Nigeria far ahead of the global average of 62 per cent.
The report noted that, unlike many regions where AI adoption remains largely experimental, Nigeria stands out for its purpose-driven use of the technology to solve real-world challenges.
“There is a very high adoption of large language models,” Adeoye stated. “But when it comes to real AI for business use, we are just scratching the surface. Many people still don’t fully understand what AI can really do.”
According to him, this gap represents a major opportunity for investors and businesses looking to optimise operations, improve efficiency, and gain a competitive advantage through AI-driven solutions.
However, he warned that rapid innovation without adequate governance could be risky, stressing the importance of responsible AI adoption in Nigeria.
He pointed to recent enforcement actions by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) as evidence that regulators are beginning to take data protection and AI-related risks more seriously.
Adeoye raised concerns about what he described as ‘shadow AI’, where organisations upload sensitive or official documents to AI tools without proper safeguards, as well as the widespread practice of storing Nigerian data outside the country.
“There is a lot of rule-breaking,” he said. “From improper data storage to companies activating accounts or processing customer data without consent, misuse is happening across sectors.”
Nigeria’s AI journey must balance innovation with ethics, governance, and local context to ensure that technology serves society rather than deepening existing challenges.
Biodun Ogunleye, commissioner of Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, pushed for public-private partnerships as the optimal model for AI implementation, suggesting that the government should focus on its core functions while collaborating with private sector entities possessing the technical expertise to handle data and AI solutions.
“Government is not in the business of business. They should let those who have the right structures deal with data and these types of issues,” Ogunleye noted, emphasising the need for solutions that serve citizens’ needs.
