Abuja wants a share of Africa’s $1 trillion AI economy

Nigeria is positioning itself for a share of what the Federal Government now describes as a $1 trillion artificial-intelligence economy in Africa by 2035, Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume said in Abuja.

The number is vast, and deliberately so. Officials want to recast the conversation from “will AI take jobs?” to “where will the data centres, talent and regulation sit?” Akume argued that if Nigeria does not build the pipes — power, fibre, skills — the value will be captured in Johannesburg, Nairobi and overseas cloud regions.

There is a gap between the speech and the grid. Data centres need reliable electricity. Model training needs cheaper power than Nigeria currently sells. Universities need lecturers who have used the tools they are supposed to teach. None of that is solved by a target on a slide.

Still, the framing matters. A government that talks about AI as an industrial policy, not a fad, is at least asking the right category of question. Investors will wait to see a procurement rule, a compute subsidy, or a campus that can actually keep the lights on overnight.