Nigeria Urges Shared AI Computing Infrastructure Among African Nations

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria has proposed pooling artificial intelligence (AI) computing resources with Rwanda, Senegal and Kenya to strengthen Africa’s capacity to develop and deploy advanced AI models.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, said the initiative would enable African countries to combine their computing resources to undertake complex AI tasks that individual nations might lack the capacity to execute independently.

Mr Tijani, who was represented by the National Director of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Mr Olubunmi Ajala, spoke at the Build 2026 Conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

He explained that the proposed arrangement would allow Nigeria to connect its Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) with computing infrastructure in other African countries, enabling researchers and developers to pool resources for building large language models and other advanced AI systems.

The minister said shared computing capacity could help African countries overcome the high cost of developing and maintaining expensive infrastructure independently, while strengthening regional cooperation in AI research, development and deployment.

He identified electricity supply, internet connectivity, cloud infrastructure and access to advanced computer chips as major constraints to Nigeria’s AI ambitions, warning that rapid technological changes and global competition for computing equipment could widen the gap between African countries and more advanced economies.

Mr Tijani also disclosed that Nigeria was working on a proposed regional data park project involving Togo, which would leverage available electricity capacity to support digital infrastructure development.

On internet access, Mr Ajala said about 20 million Nigerians remained unconnected, adding that the government was pursuing a fibre infrastructure initiative to expand broadband coverage across the country.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Luminate, Ms Melanie Hui, said Nigeria’s dependence on foreign cloud infrastructure was costing the country an estimated $850 million annually.

Ms Hui, who delivered a keynote address at the conference, said the estimate highlighted the economic implications of Africa’s limited control over critical components of the global AI value chain.

She explained that advanced AI systems depended on computer chips, cloud computing, data centres, electricity, water, data and highly skilled labour, noting that control over these resources translated into economic and political influence.

Ms Hui warned that African countries risked remaining consumers of foreign-developed technology and suppliers of raw data and critical minerals without deliberate strategies to build local capacity and retain more economic value from AI development.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Centre, Mr Osasuyi Dirisu, said the Nigeria AI Collective was established to promote an ethical and inclusive AI ecosystem by bringing together stakeholders from academia, agriculture, security, climate and other sectors.

Mr Dirisu stressed the need to develop local talent and digital skills to prepare Nigerians for changes in the labour market as AI adoption expands.

The Chief Executive Officer of Data Science Nigeria, Mr Olubayo Adekanbi, also urged Nigerians to acquire AI skills, noting that the technology could improve productivity and create employment opportunities even as it transforms existing jobs.

Mr Adekanbi cited healthcare as an example of how AI could help doctors diagnose conditions more efficiently and reach more patients, while leaving final decisions to human professionals.

He also called for wider access to tools that can verify online information, proposing a system that would allow people to submit claims through mobile phones and receive responses on their accuracy, including those without internet access.