Nigeria has taken a major step toward becoming a continental leader in artificial intelligence governance, as UNESCO unveiled the country’s Artificial Intelligence Readiness Assessment Report and urged stakeholders to establish strong guardrails for the technology.
Launched in Abuja, the report provides the first comprehensive assessment of Nigeria’s preparedness to develop, deploy and regulate AI in an ethical, inclusive and human centred way.
Officer in Charge of UNESCO’s Abuja Office, Dimitri Sanga, described AI as the most transformative technology of the modern era while warning of significant risks. “For the first time, humanity is said to have created a tool that could challenge its own existence if not effectively regulated,” he said.
Sanga said the report should serve as a roadmap for informed policy, noting that UNESCO, with European Union support, had worked with Nigeria since 2024 and trained more than 400 civil servants across six states in AI literacy. He commended Nigeria for incorporating UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, unanimously adopted by 193 member states in November 2021, into its digital transformation agenda.
Stakeholders agreed that implementing the report’s recommendations could position Nigeria as one of Africa’s leading digital economies and a reference point for responsible AI governance.
