MTN Nigeria has called on both government and private stakeholders to collaborate in building the infrastructure and expertise required to harness the opportunities and tackle the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence in the country.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Karl Toriola, made the appeal during a plenary session at the 2025 Gulf Information Technology Exhibition, GITEX.
His paper, titled “Toward a United AI Strategy for Africa”, outlined the pressing need for coordinated action in driving AI adoption across Nigeria and the wider continent.
This year’s GITEX carries the theme, “Building Continental Digital Foundations for Equitable AI Development”. The four-day event has drawn participants from across Africa and beyond, including academics, policymakers, and industry leaders.
While the summit opened in Abuja on September 1–2, the exhibition continues in Lagos until September 4.
Toriola identified Nigeria’s biggest gaps as poor data centre capacity, unreliable electricity supply, and inadequate digital skills.
He stressed that without significant investment in these areas, Nigeria risks falling behind in the global AI race.
“There is about a 90-megawatt gap in terms of data centre capacity today,” he explained.
“It is estimated that data consumption from AI will be 16-fold of what we are consuming today.
What we, as a nation, are going to try to do is to build sovereign data ecosystems, which require computing infrastructure collectively.”
He underscored that AI-ready data centres demand enormous energy resources—comparable to a nuclear power plant per facility—highlighting Nigeria’s urgent need to improve its power sector.
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Toriola further urged Nigeria to develop a clear national AI strategy that brings together public and private resources, executed with consistency and discipline.
“I would love to see a headline that says Nigeria has articulated a clear strategy on how to advance artificial intelligence,” he said.
According to him, beyond infrastructure, the development of human capital is essential.
Training programmes for youth, professionals, and enterprises must align with AI’s growth trajectory to ensure Nigeria’s workforce is ready for emerging opportunities.
Despite the hurdles, Toriola reiterated MTN’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s digital future.
He said the company would continue to invest in solutions that enable individuals, SMEs, and large corporations to tap into AI-driven innovation.
Industry watchers say MTN’s position reflects a broader continental push to prepare Africa for a technology-driven economy.
With global demand for AI capacity skyrocketing, nations that fail to invest in infrastructure risk being left behind in both competitiveness and innovation.
As Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, faces rising digital demands, the call for collaboration signals the urgency of aligning technology policies with long-term national development goals.
NAN
