-
Nigeria has jumped from 80th to 38th place in the world’s biggest ranking of responsible artificial intelligence use, and it took the country just two years to do it.
-
Nigeria now sits ahead of every other country on the continent, including Egypt and Kenya, two nations that have long been treated as Africa’s tech front runners.
-
Minister Bosun Tijani has also been named a founding member of a brand new global AI commission, sitting alongside Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame and Salesforce Chief Marc Benioff.
-
Officials and analysts now describe the climb as proof that Nigeria’s AI ambitions have moved from paperwork to real, visible momentum, with much bigger gains still on the table.
July 16, (THEWILL) — Two years ago, nobody was calling Nigeria an AI leader of anything.
When the Global Centre on AI Governance published the first edition of its Global Index on Responsible AI in 2024, Nigeria scored 7.21 out of 100 and landed in 80th place among the countries assessed.
It was a fair reflection of where things stood at the time. There was no dedicated national AI strategy, no clear rulebook for how AI should be used responsibly, and very little global attention on Nigeria’s digital policy work.
But all of that changed fast. The Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, led by Bosun Tijani, built out the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, launched the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme to train young Nigerians in AI and machine learning skills, and pushed through the Nigeria Data Protection Act along with its 2025 update, which specifically protects children from decisions made purely by automated systems.
None of it happened overnight, and none of it happened by accident.
By the time the second edition of the index landed in July 2026, the results were hard to argue with. Nigeria’s score rose to 45.93, a jump of 42 places to 38th position worldwide, and first place in Africa, ahead of both Egypt and Kenya.
The report also named Nigeria a global “Bright Spot,” a label reserved for countries doing standout work combining AI literacy with real protections for children online.
Tijani called it proof that “Africa must not only participate in the AI revolution” but help write the rules for it too, and for a country that was barely on the map two years ago, that is no small claim to make.
The recognition did not stop at the ranking. Tijani was inaugurated as a founding member of the International Telecommunication Union’s new AI for Good Global Commission, a body co-chaired by Kagame and Benioff, with ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-Martin serving as vice chair.
The commission brings together heads of state, industry leaders and researchers to shape how AI gets governed around the world, and Nigeria now has a direct seat at that table rather than watching decisions get made without it.
That seat matters beyond prestige. It puts Nigerian priorities in front of the same people setting global AI investment and policy trends, at a moment when the stakes for Africa are enormous.
AI is projected to add roughly 1.2 trillion dollars to Africa’s economy by 2030, lifting GDP across the continent by an estimated 5.6 percent, and countries that show up early with real credibility tend to capture more of that opportunity than countries that show up late, asking to be taken seriously.
Nigeria still has real work ahead, and officials know it. But the last two years show what focused policy can do in a short amount of time, going from a near-bottom score to the top of an entire continent’s ranking table.
With Tijani now inside the room where global AI rules are being written, and with the country’s broader push toward a 1 trillion dollar economy leaning heavily on digital growth, Nigeria’s climb looks less like a one-time headline and more like the opening chapter of something bigger.
