Industry stakeholders have continued to debate the issues around Artificial Intelligence governance in Nigeria, designed to unlock the country’s digital economy while safeguarding citizens’ rights. While some are calling for collaborative approach to AI governance, others are of the view that innovation without regulation will pose risk and that regulation without innovation is stagnation, writes Emma Okonji
The on-going debate on the planned regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nigeria, was again brought to the front burner by T&A Legal, during the hosting of its 2026 AI Summit in Lagos.
Themed: ‘Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria: Balancing Regulation and Innovation,’ the summit brought together key voices from the public and private sectors to deliberate on the opportunities, challenges, and regulatory framework required to position Nigeria as a leader in responsible AI adoption across Africa.
Co-founding Partner of T&A Legal, Oluseyi Adisa, in her welcome speech, said while countries across the world were still experimenting with governance models, Nigeria has a unique opportunity to develop an AI framework tailored to its realities.
According to her, while AI will present enormous economic opportunities, with projections indicating it can contribute billions of dollars to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and transform agriculture, healthcare, education, governance and other critical sectors, the gains must be supported by appropriate safeguards against emerging risks such as algorithmic bias, data misuse, deepfakes, cyber threats, privacy violations and election interference.
