…as Microsoft urges responsible AI adoption to drive digital transformation
Microsoft and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have intensified efforts to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across Nigeria’s public and private sectors, with stakeholders emphasising the need for the country to evolve from being a consumer of AI technologies to becoming a creator and contributor in the global intelligence economy.
The call was made on Tuesday in Abuja during the Nigeria AI Summit 2026, themed “From Policy to Progress: Accelerating Responsible AI Adoption for Nigeria’s Digital Decade.”
Speaking at the summit, Nonye Ujam, Director of Government Affairs, West Africa, Microsoft, said Nigeria had demonstrated remarkable leadership in advancing AI adoption over the past few years through initiatives such as the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the development of the N-Atlas multilingual large language model, and ongoing work on AI governance and data regulation.
According to her, the country is increasingly positioning itself not only to participate in the global AI economy but also to help shape its future.
“The direction is clear. Nigeria is not only positioning itself to participate in the global AI economy, but to help shape it. As the focus is swiftly moving from strategy to implementation, conversations around accelerating AI adoption in the public sector have become even more important,” Ujam said.
She noted that while significant progress had been made in developing policies and frameworks, the next priority was to translate ambition into measurable outcomes by deploying AI solutions that improve governance, enhance productivity and create opportunities for citizens.
“The priority is now to translate this ambition into impact, operationalising AI in ways that deliver real, measurable outcomes for government, industry, and society. From the systems, governance, frameworks, and infrastructure to the institutional capacity required to enable AI adoption at scale.
Ujam stressed that AI adoption must be anchored on principles of fairness, reliability, safety, privacy, transparency and accountability to build public trust and ensure sustainable innovation.
“However, innovation must be anchored in fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability to build public trust,” she said.
She added that partnerships between governments, technology companies, academia and civil society would be essential to unlocking AI’s full potential.
“At Microsoft, we believe AI is a powerful driver of inclusive growth, enhancing public service delivery, expanding access to knowledge, boosting productivity and unlocking opportunity at scale. Realising this potential requires partnerships,” she said.
Also speaking at the summit, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of NITDA, represented by Emmanuel Edet, Acting Director of Regulations and Compliance, said artificial intelligence had become a transformative technology comparable to electricity during the industrial era and the internet during the information age.
He said the challenge before Nigeria was not whether AI would shape the future, but whether the country would merely consume technologies developed elsewhere or become a significant contributor to their development.
“The real question is whether Nigeria will be a consumer of this technology or a creator of it, or at the very least, a contributor. Whether we will inherit the opportunities of the intelligence age or help design them,” he said.
Abdullahi highlighted several milestones achieved by the country over the past year, including the launch of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the unveiling of N-Atlas, described as Africa’s first government-backed multilingual large language model at a national scale, and ongoing efforts to enact the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill.
According to him, these initiatives demonstrate Nigeria’s readiness to compete in the emerging AI-driven economy.
“Together, these initiatives send a clear message. Nigeria is not waiting for the future. We are preparing for it,” he said.
The NITDA boss, however, emphasised that the success of AI policies would ultimately be measured by their impact on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
He said effective implementation should enable farmers to access AI-powered advisory services, healthcare professionals to improve diagnosis and treatment outcomes, businesses to enhance productivity, students to gain better learning opportunities and public institutions to deliver services more efficiently.
“Progress means moving from ambition to implementation, from pilot projects to scale, and from isolated innovation to systematic transformation,” he said.
Abdullahi also underscored the importance of responsible AI, arguing that public trust remains the foundation upon which sustainable innovation must be built.
“Without public trust, AI adoption will stall. Without accountability, innovation cannot scale sustainably. Without transparency, citizens will lose confidence in the systems designed to serve them,” he said.
He noted that responsible AI requires human oversight, protection of privacy rights, fairness, transparency and governance frameworks that balance innovation with societal protection.
The NITDA chief further linked Nigeria’s AI aspirations to broader investments in energy, cloud infrastructure, data centres, digital public infrastructure, fibre connectivity and talent development.
“Artificial intelligence does not run on algorithms alone. It runs on energy, compute capacity, data, talent, infrastructure and, most of all, trust,” he said.
He called for stronger support for local innovation and digital sovereignty, stressing that Nigeria must build indigenous AI solutions rooted in local realities, languages and developmental priorities.
“The future of AI should not simply happen in Africa. Africa must shape it,” he said.
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