Reliance Infosystems has called on Nigerian business executives to urgently integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their strategic planning, warning that failure to do so could render their organisations obsolete in a rapidly evolving digital economy.
At a recent AI masterclass hosted in Lagos in partnership with Lagos Business School, the company brought together C-suite executives across sectors to demystify AI and outline how decision-makers can drive value creation through its adoption.
The session was positioned as a strategic intervention, challenging Nigerian executives to lead from the front rather than delegate AI responsibility to IT departments.
“Executives must take responsibility for AI in their organisations. AI strategy should not sit with the IT department alone; it is a business leadership imperative,” said Nkemdilim Iheanachor, a faculty at Lagos Business School and a facilitator at the session.
He stressed that companies must stop approaching AI as a one-off innovation project and instead integrate it into long-term value delivery models.
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This AI conversation is timely. According to a 2024 PwC Nigeria report, businesses and workplaces are expected to record a sharp increase in AI adoption by 2025 as firms look to improve efficiency and decision-making.
However, Nigeria’s AI readiness remains uneven, with infrastructural limitations and fragmented digital policies slowing progress. BusinessDay has reported that Nigerian SMEs in particular face cost-related hurdles to AI integration, coupled with a lack of skills and weak institutional support.
Despite these constraints, the tech firm maintains that none of these barriers outweigh the role of leadership in driving AI success.
“There is no scarcity of AI tools. What’s scarce is leadership that can identify problems worth solving and build a culture around execution,” said Babajide Akande, Group Vice President, Digitank Technologies.
Participants were exposed to a range of use cases showing how AI is being deployed across financial services, retail, healthcare, and the public sector. These included applications such as fraud detection, hyper-personalised marketing, patient diagnostics, and intelligent citizen service delivery. The emphasis, however, was not merely on automation but on using AI to rethink business models and customer engagement fundamentally.
In a warning, Iheanachor added, “We must stop copying global blueprints and start building our own. Nigeria’s data, infrastructure, and talent realities demand local solutions.”
He added that firms that fail to act now risk becoming irrelevant as the world transitions from digital transformation to AI-driven value chains.
According to Google, increased adoption of AI could add over $15 billion to Nigeria’s economy. But that potential hinges on executives being willing to challenge the status quo and make bold, data-driven decisions.
The masterclass urged Nigerian firms to begin small, identifying specific business problems and testing AI solutions in targeted areas while ensuring ethical design and transparency in deployment.
“AI without a clear business objective is just expensive hype,” one of the facilitators said. “The future will not wait. Nigerian executives must stop admiring innovation from afar and start leading it from within.”
As the digital economy matures, Reliance Infosystems notes that AI is no longer a futuristic ambition. It is now a critical business priority, and Nigerian leaders must act decisively to ensure their organisations do not get left behind.
