At the 2025 Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit & Leadership Award (ABoICT) held in Lagos, leading tech experts emphasized the urgent need for Africa—particularly Nigeria—to adopt a governance-first approach to artificial intelligence (AI). Professor Adewale Peter Obadare of Digital Encode and Amrich Singhal of Spectranet both cautioned that unchecked AI development could have devastating consequences if not properly regulated. They argued that while AI presents immense opportunities, it also carries significant risks when deployed without ethical oversight, cybersecurity standards, and proper regulatory frameworks.
Obadare, in his keynote address, criticized the rising trend of “AI washing,” where non-AI tools are being marketed as AI to exploit hype. He warned that without strict governance, Africa might repeat past tech errors—like the insecure foundation of TCP/IP protocols. He advocated for adopting global standards like ISO/IEC 42001 to ensure that innovation remains secure, responsible, and beneficial to society. Governance, he stressed, should be seen not as a hindrance, but as a safeguard for progress.
Echoing these concerns, Singhal highlighted how AI is a double-edged sword, with the potential to drive economic growth and national productivity while simultaneously enabling new forms of cybercrime such as deepfakes and identity theft. He pointed out that having powerful AI models is not enough; trust, safety, and accountability will determine which nations ultimately benefit. Singhal emphasized that Nigeria’s current regulatory tools, including NDPR and NITDA’s AI framework, are underdeveloped and lack effective enforcement.
Both experts agreed that a collaborative, multi-stakeholder strategy is essential. They cited real-world examples like Microsoft’s racist chatbot, Amazon’s biased recruitment AI, and recent high-profile AI-related cyber breaches to underline that failures in AI deployment often stem from poor governance. Their proposed solutions include stronger laws, ethical standards in AI design, and broader digital rights awareness, particularly to protect vulnerable groups from AI misuse.
The call to action was clear: AI is already shaping Africa’s future, and the time for debate is over. Obadare and Singhal concluded that Nigeria must act with urgency—embedding governance in the DNA of AI development—to ensure that the technology becomes a force for progress rather than a source of instability. As Singhal starkly put it, “Nigeria must choose whether AI will be a great equalizer or its greatest vulnerability.”
Source: The Sun