Nigeria has been urged to invest in local technology talent, computing infrastructure and quality data to develop artificial intelligence solutions capable of addressing the country’s economic and public service challenges. Software engineer and technology entrepreneur Toluwalope Banjo said the country risks remaining largely a consumer of foreign AI technologies unless it creates the conditions for Nigerian developers and companies to build solutions tailored to local needs.
Speaking in an interview with The Punch, Banjo said Nigeria already had a growing pool of technology talent but needed stronger support systems to transform technical knowledge into commercially viable products. He identified access to computing resources, research facilities and reliable datasets as critical to developing AI applications that understand Nigerian languages, businesses and public institutions. He also called for improved data collection, digitisation and responsible data sharing to support locally relevant innovation.
Banjo said government institutions could accelerate the growth of indigenous AI by creating opportunities for Nigerian technology companies to develop and test solutions in healthcare, education, public administration and other sectors. He noted that local developers did not need to build every component of AI infrastructure independently or compete directly with the world’s largest technology companies. Instead, he argued that Nigeria should strengthen its technical expertise and research capacity while adapting available technologies to local realities and developing products with international market potential.
He also highlighted the need to bridge the gap between digital training and practical workplace experience, urging aspiring developers to build functional projects, contribute to open source initiatives and collaborate with other technology professionals. According to him, small businesses could use AI to produce marketing materials, analyse information, support customers and automate routine tasks, while public institutions could apply the technology to document processing and information management. However, he warned that slow institutional adoption remained a major obstacle, calling for clearer implementation frameworks that would enable organisations to adopt AI safely and responsibly.