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The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to becoming a key shaper in the global artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, stressing that the country’s efforts are deeply anchored in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Speaking during a plenary session themed “Technology, Migration & Trade Representation” at the Stake­holders’ Interactive engagement with the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, held at the State House in Abuja, Inuwa outlined Nigeria’s strategic roadmap for emerging technologies.

He noted that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agen­da places strong emphasis on econom­ic diversification and inclusivity, with priority number seven focusing on accelerating industrialization, digita­lization, creative industries, manufac­turing, and innovation.

According to him, this vision has informed the Ministry of Communi­cations, Innovation and Digital Econ­omy’s roadmap, and guides NITDA’s ongoing initiatives to transform Nige­ria into a digital powerhouse in Africa.

The NITDA boss, explained that at the heart of this ambition is Nigeria’s National AI Strategy, which lays out a clear pathway for the country’s techno­logical future.

He described the first priority as building foundational infrastructure that will allow Nigeria to play a mean­ingful role in the AI journey.

According to him, this involves expanding connectivity, developing sovereign cloud platforms, and build­ing clean and representative national datasets.

He noted the launch of the National Multilingual Large Language Model in New York as a major milestone, say­ing, “For us, it is important that our languages, our culture, and our people are represented in the AI of the future. That is why we built Nigeria’s own multilingual large language model — to ensure that technology reflects our identity and diversity.”

On sectoral transformation, Inuwa explained that AI is being integrated into key industries such as health­care, agriculture, manufacturing, and education to radically boost produc­tivity, adding that AI will not replace humans; rather, it will enhance human endeavor.

“With AI, we can achieve ten times the productivity we are seeing today. Imagine what it means when our doc­tors can diagnose faster, our farmers can predict yields better, and our man­ufacturers can cut inefficiencies. That is the kind of leap Nigeria is preparing for,” he stated.