Nigeria is leading West Africa in artificial intelligence adoption and investment, but its ambitions are at risk due to a major funding shortfall.
The State of AI Policy in Africa 2025 report, reveals that while Nigeria excels in deploying AI initiatives, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS) suffers from a lack of dedicated funding.
“Nigeria demonstrates strong participation and implementation through local language models and scaling hubs but lacks dedicated funding and statutory backing,” they stated.
“Funding remains the weakest area. The strategy lacks explicit budget lines or projections, relying on external partners,” the report added
The report warns that despite leading AI policy development in West Africa, Nigeria’s progress could stall without stronger domestic funding.
Nigerian AI investments
According to the report, Nigeria’s AI initiatives have received significant support from international partners. In 2024, UNDP, UNESCO, Meta, Google, and Microsoft contributed US$3.5 million for the initial rollout of AI programs. Additional investments include Rack Centre’s US$120 million data centre, OADC’s US$240 million hyperscale facility, Google’s N100 million AI Fund, and Microsoft’s US$1 million local investment, demonstrating strong global confidence in Nigeria’s AI potential.
- Public engagement has been a key feature of Nigeria’s AI strategy. Stakeholders from academia, civil society, and industry took part in a four-day workshop in April 2024, while broader input was gathered through online consultations. UNESCO followed up with training sessions for civil servants in early 2025. States such as Edo, Sokoto, and Imo have hosted local AI workshops to accelerate adoption and strengthen grassroots understanding of AI applications.
- Nigeria has made measurable progress in deploying AI solutions. This year, it launched N-ATLAS, a multilingual language model supporting Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo. The government also established an AI Scaling Hub with the Gates Foundation to expand AI use in health, education, and agriculture.
- AI is also being applied in social welfare programs to map urban poverty, demonstrating practical benefits for citizens.
Regional context
Senegal is the only West African country with a fully costed AI strategy, but budgets remain a gap elsewhere. It is the country in West Africa with a fully costed artificial intelligence strategy, allocating $46 million for research and training. Across the region, budgets remain a major gap, and no West African country has yet enacted AI-specific laws, leaving regulatory frameworks largely informal.
Nigeria and Ghana are leading the region in AI adoption and investment. Nigeria has launched an open-source language model, signed a Gates-backed AI Scaling Hub, and attracted hundreds of millions in foreign-backed infrastructure, driving AI applications across health, education, and agriculture. Ghana has developed a 10-year AI strategy, with strong participation and active deployments in health, finance, and agriculture, supported by Google and Japan-backed AI hubs.
Other countries show mixed progress. Côte d’Ivoire and Benin have strategies with defined actions and institutional anchors, but both are weaker on budgets and enforcement. Burkina Faso is only drafting its first action plan, leaving it at an early stage of adoption.
Recommendations
Africa’s AI policies show ambition but uneven execution. To move from strategy to implementation, countries should focus on four areas:
- Enact clear, enforceable AI laws beyond high-level principles, ensure algorithmic accountability, train the judiciary, and integrate ethical literacy across universities, government, and industry.
- Invest in local talent and training, build representative datasets, expand AI infrastructure, and promote regional collaboration to share resources.
- Establish dedicated, multi-year AI budgets, encourage public–private partnerships, create AI funding councils, and link procurement to transparency and local content. Reskilling programs should align workforce needs with digital transformation.
- Harmonize data standards across regional blocs, support joint AI projects and shared infrastructure, protect intellectual property collectively, and ensure strong political leadership to prioritize AI, maintain consistency, and position Africa as a credible player in global AI governance.