Tijani at GITEX Nigeria: Africa Must Build Shared AI Infrastructure to Avoid Global Marginalisation

At the opening of the GITEX Nigeria Summit 2025 in Abuja, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, urged African leaders to collaborate on building shared artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, warning that failure to act could push the continent further behind in the global economy. He emphasized that without deliberate investment and cross-border cooperation, AI could deepen the productivity divide between Africa and more advanced regions.

Tijani cited agriculture as a clear example of Africa’s productivity challenge, comparing Nigeria’s average maize yield of 2.5 tonnes per hectare with South Africa’s 6 tonnes and Brazil’s 12 tonnes. He stressed that the difference was not due to land or rainfall but to technology and AI-driven innovations like precision farming, which boost efficiency and output.

The minister outlined four key pillars for Africa’s AI strategy: balancing national sovereignty with shared governance, equipping young people with technical skills, digitizing local datasets to ensure representation in AI models, and making joint investments in internet connectivity, computing power, and clean energy. He also highlighted the Nigerian government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program, designed to prepare the country’s youth for the future AI economy.

Tijani warned that Africa cannot afford to depend solely on foreign-built AI models, which often fail to capture the continent’s realities in language, health, and agriculture. “AI relies on connectivity, computing power, and clean energy,” he said. “These remain costly and unevenly distributed across Africa. No single country can shoulder the burden alone. We must unite to reduce costs and secure our place in the AI-driven global economy.”

The four-day GITEX Nigeria event, held in Abuja and Lagos from September 1 to 4, brings together global and local technology leaders, including IBM, Meta, MTN, and NITDA, to push Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a $1 trillion digital economy. Tijani closed his address with a call to action for Africa’s leaders: “Our children should one day look back and say our leaders prepared us, secured our future, and made sure Africa was not left behind.”

Source: Business day