Anambra’s local AI raises Nigeria’s digital sovereignty hopes

*As OADC, Analytics Intelligence deal, media’s Big Tech battle fuel push for homegrown AI

By Prince Osuagwu

Nigeria’s dream of achieving artificial intelligence AI sovereignty may have received an unexpected boost from Anambra State, where the state’s ICT Agency has begun deploying a locally trained AI system to automate government operations and explore new ways of improving productivity, governance and revenue collection.

While Anambra’s initiative is not a frontier AI model capable of competing with the likes of ChatGPT or Google Gemini, its significance is that it demonstrates that Nigeria does not necessarily have to wait for global technology giants before it can begin building AI systems around its own data, institutions and peculiar needs.

And that could become increasingly important as Nigeria steps up its quest for digital independence.The development comes almost simultaneously with a partnership between Open Access Data Centres (OADC), a WIOCC Group company, and Analytics Intelligence, AI to develop sovereign AI and cloud solutions that will enable African businesses to deploy secure, scalable and locally hosted AI infrastructure.