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AI governance in Africa may deepen inequality, policy expert warns

Published

3 months ago

May 15, 2026

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AI governance in Africa may deepen inequality

Africa’s accelerating push to establish artificial intelligence governance frameworks risks leaving millions of citizens outside the policy processes that will define the continent’s digital future, according to Fahidat Abdullahi, Fahidat Abdullahi, Policy Advisor at the Africa Digital Inclusion Alliance.

Speaking during the online Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium Panel, Abdullahi warns that many AI governance systems across Africa are being built on digital participation models that assume widespread connectivity, despite persistent and significant digital access gaps across the continent.

“Participatory AI governance is often framed as a democratic process, but participation requires access and in context of digital inequity that access collapses and that requires different mechanisms,” she says in her presentation titled Rethinking Participatory AI Governance Under Digital Inequity.

“The problem here is that many AI governance processes rely on digital mechanisms,” she says. “There is an assumption that citizens can participate digitally through online portals, virtual consultations and web-based feedback platforms. But what happens when millions of people cannot connect?”

Her intervention comes as African governments intensify efforts to position themselves within the global artificial intelligence economy. Abdullahi cites McKinsey projections suggesting AI could contribute billions of dollars to Africa’s economy by 2030, with more than 15 African countries already having developed national AI strategies as of 2025.

However, she argues that these ambitions are unfolding against a structural constraint: widespread digital exclusion.

According to data presented at the symposium, 64% of Africans remain offline, while high data costs continue to deepen inequality, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

Digital exclusion threatens legitimacy of AI governance

Abdullahi says many AI governance frameworks rely heavily on online consultation mechanisms that automatically exclude large segments of the population.

“The problem here is that many AI governance processes rely on digital mechanisms,” she says. “There is an assumption that citizens can participate digitally through online portals, virtual consultations and web-based feedback platforms. But what happens when millions of people cannot connect?”

She argues that this structural disconnect raises fundamental questions about the legitimacy and inclusiveness of emerging AI governance systems across Africa.

“When baseline digital access is uneven, participatory legitimacy cannot be assumed,” she says.

Governance framework analysis reveals inclusion gaps

To assess the issue, Abdullahi adapts Archon Fung’s Democracy Cube framework to evaluate AI governance models through the lens of digital inclusion. Her adapted model examines who participates, how participation occurs, and what level of influence participants have on policy outcomes, while also accounting for infrastructure access, affordability, language barriers, and digital literacy.

She applies the framework to three major policy initiatives: Nigeria’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Kenya’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2025–2030, and the African Union Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

The findings highlight varying levels of inclusivity across the three governance models.

For Nigeria, Abdullahi notes that while the strategy acknowledges digital inequality and infrastructure gaps, the consultation process remains heavily dependent on digital participation channels.

She says Nigeria’s AI strategy development engaged “over 120 internal and external experts,” but argues that this approach risks excluding a significant portion of the population, including the estimated 55% of Nigerians who remain offline.

“Nigeria utilised an in-person workshop and then followed with an online portal for public review,” she says. “There were no primary offline mechanisms for the public to participate.”

She also highlights linguistic exclusion challenges in Nigeria’s consultation process.

“For a country like Nigeria, where I’m from actually, that has over 500 languages, that is missing a key multilingual approach,” she says, noting that engagement was conducted primarily in English.

African Union, Kenya show contrasting approaches

The African Union Continental AI Strategy, she notes, follows a largely expert-driven model anchored in institutional and technical working groups.

“The AU takes a more expert-only approach, relying heavily on specialized task forces and institutional experts,” she says.

While the AU framework references community-oriented principles, Abdullahi argues that it lacks clear mechanisms to track or integrate input from digitally marginalised populations.

By contrast, Kenya emerges as the most inclusive of the three case studies.

According to her analysis, Kenya conducted offline town hall meetings across 17 counties and incorporated Swahili-first AI considerations within its policy framework.

“Kenya demonstrated a stronger commitment to linguistic and physical accessibility,” she says.

However, she notes that limitations persist, as many consultations were still concentrated in urban innovation hubs and conducted predominantly in English.

Abdullahi argues that a broader structural issue runs through all three policy frameworks: digital infrastructure is primarily treated as an economic development enabler rather than a democratic governance requirement.

“Across all three of them, digital infrastructure is identified and framed in the strategies as an AI development prerequisite, but not as an AI governance prerequisite,” she says.

She warns that this framing risks widening existing inequalities as governments expand AI deployment across critical sectors including public services, healthcare, education, finance, and security.

“When we do not have the full consideration of digitally excluded individuals, the risk here is that as we’re advancing AI development and other advanced technologies, we risk widening the digital divide,” she says.

Call for offline-first AI governance models

To address these challenges, Abdullahi calls for the deliberate integration of offline and intermediary participation mechanisms into AI governance systems, rather than treating them as supplementary measures.

“It’s a necessity to embed offline and intermediary mechanisms alongside digital platforms,” she says. “But it should not be an afterthought, but a part of the actual core design.”

She also urges policymakers to clearly demonstrate how citizen input, particularly from marginalised groups, directly influences final policy outcomes.

“So showing that they actually had influence, not just that there was input and consultation from them, but reflecting clearly how that impacted the outcome,” she says.

No one-size-fits-all approach for Africa’s AI governance

The presentation further cautions against uniform AI governance models across Africa, citing the continent’s deep linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity.

“We can’t have a one-size-fits-all approach across all countries,” she says. “Solutions cannot be identical everywhere.”

As African nations accelerate AI strategy development and compete for investment in emerging technologies, the research underscores a critical governance question: whether the citizens most affected by AI systems are meaningfully included in shaping the rules that govern them.

Related Topics:Africa deepen expert Governance inequality Policy Technology Times warns

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‘We Dug Deep for Nigeria’ — Woman of the Match Mitchelle Alozie Hails Super Falcons’ Heroic Zambia Victory

Published

7 minutes ago

August 4, 2026

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Super Falcons defender Mitchelle Alozie has hailed Nigeria’s fighting spirit after the defending champions secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Zambia, admitting the players had to dig deep to protect their slender advantage after being reduced to 10 women.

Alozie, who was named Woman of the Match following her outstanding display, played a pivotal role as the Super Falcons bounced back from their opening defeat to Malawi to revive their 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) campaign.

Speaking after the match, the defender described the contest as one of the toughest the team has faced, praising Zambia for their quality and relentless attacking threat.

“It was a very exhausting game. Zambia have quality players, and they made life very difficult for us, but we stayed together, defended as a team and fought until the final whistle,” Alozie said.

The Super Falcons survived sustained second-half pressure despite playing with 10 players following Tosin Demehin’s first-half dismissal, with Alozie producing a commanding performance at the heart of Nigeria’s defensive effort.

The defender also appealed to supporters to remain patient and continue backing the team despite its mixed start to the tournament.

“We understand why the fans are concerned because it wasn’t the start we wanted, but we ask them to keep supporting us. We’ll continue responding positively to every challenge that comes our way,” she added.

Alozie also dismissed suggestions that criticism on social media has affected the squad, insisting the players have instead used the platforms to strengthen their bond off the pitch.

“Social media isn’t a distraction for us. It’s actually one of the ways we connect, build team chemistry and keep everyone together,” she explained.

Nigeria’s victory over Zambia has put the 10-time African champions back in control of their qualification hopes ahead of their final Group C fixture against Egypt on Wednesday, where a positive result would seal a place in the quarter-finals and keep alive their pursuit of a record-extending 11th WAFCON title.

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CPPE urges CBN to rethink development finance, says real sector faces N50tn funding gap

Published

50 minutes ago

August 4, 2026

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The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has urged the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to overhaul the country’s development finance framework, warning that Nigeria’s productive sectors face a financing shortfall of more than N50 trillion.

In a policy brief released on Sunday and signed by CPPE’s CEO, Muda Yusuf, the advocacy group argued that the country’s current financial system cannot provide the affordable, long-term funding needed by manufacturers, farmers, agribusinesses, exporters, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

CBN had earlier curtailed its development finance interventions to concentrate on its primary mandate of ensuring price and monetary stability.

The organisation, CPPE, said the financing constraints stem from structural market failures rather than a shortage of liquidity, citing high lending rates, short loan tenors, stringent collateral requirements, limited risk appetite among lenders and inadequate patient capital.

“CPPE estimates a conservative current real-sector financing gap of over N50 trillion when account is taken of unmet financing needs across manufacturing, agriculture, agribusiness, MSMEs, supply chains and export-oriented enterprises,” CPPE stated.

According to the group, agriculture contributes more than one-fifth of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but has historically received less than five per cent of total banking sector credit, while manufacturers require medium- and long-term financing to invest in machinery, technology, factory expansion, energy infrastructure and export development.

It argued that such investments cannot be financed sustainably through short-term commercial bank loans offered at prevailing interest rates.

Financing constraints

CPPE said the current monetary policy stance has further widened the financing gap, noting that the CBN’s benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) of 26.5 per cent and the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) of 45 per cent for deposit money banks have pushed commercial lending rates beyond levels that many productive investments can support.

While acknowledging that the CBN’s monetary tightening has improved policy credibility, exchange-rate stability and inflation management, the organisation said monetary stability should ultimately support economic growth rather than constrain productive investment.

“Price stability and development finance should not be treated as mutually exclusive objectives. In an economy characterised by deep financing gaps, market failures and severe supply-side constraints, monetary stability must be complemented by carefully targeted, transparently governed and non-inflationary development finance interventions to support manufacturing, agriculture, agribusiness and other strategic productive sectors,” CPPE said.

It added that Nigeria faces the difficult task of maintaining restrictive monetary conditions to contain inflation while ensuring businesses have access to affordable, long-term capital needed to expand production and create jobs.

“The answer is not indiscriminate monetary expansion. It is a carefully designed development-finance framework targeted at identifiable market failures and structured to preserve monetary-policy credibility,” CPPE said.

Drive industrialisation

The organisation argued that expecting conventional commercial banks to finance Nigeria’s industrialisation and agricultural transformation is unrealistic because banks largely mobilise short-term deposits, whereas productive sectors require financing extending over five to ten years or longer.

It also identified information asymmetry, heavy dependence on landed property as collateral, and sovereign borrowing as key factors discouraging lending to productive businesses.

“Commercial credit decisions, driven primarily by risk-adjusted private returns, tend to underfund productive sectors relative to their broader economic and social value.

This represents a classic market failure and provides a compelling economic justification for well-targeted development finance interventions,” it stated.

Reform

Although CPPE acknowledged governance shortcomings associated with previous CBN intervention programmes, including weak loan recovery, political interference, beneficiary selection challenges, and quasi-fiscal risks, it said those weaknesses justify reforms rather than abandoning development finance altogether.

“These shortcomings provide a compelling case for reform, not retreat. Implementation failures should not be confused with the absence of genuine market failures in Nigeria’s financial system,” the organisation said.

It proposed replacing direct intervention lending with a modern framework that is market-driven, transparent and anchored on risk-sharing.

Under the proposed model, the CBN would serve mainly as a catalyst, refinancer and risk-sharing institution, while development finance institutions and commercial lenders would retain responsibility for loan appraisal, disbursement and recovery.

Recommendations

CPPE called on the government and the apex bank to strengthen the country’s development finance architecture by reconsidering the retreat from development finance and refraining from returning to discretionary intervention lending.

It also advised the apex bank to recapitalise and strengthen the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture to serve as the main channels for long-term financing.

CPPE urged the regulator to expand partial credit guarantees and risk-sharing schemes for manufacturing, agriculture, exports and MSMEs, while also creating specialised long-term refinancing windows for manufacturing and agricultural value chains.

It also asked the government to expand supply-chain financing, warehouse receipt systems, receivables financing, and movable collateral frameworks, and to improve credit information systems and technology-driven risk assessment.

The advocacy group urged the government to mobilise pension, insurance and capital market funds for productive, long-term investments and to reduce government borrowing that crowds out private-sector credit.

It added that the government should strengthen governance, transparency, loan recovery and independent performance evaluation.

Inflation control

CPPE also argued that properly designed development finance is compatible with the CBN’s price stability objective because much of Nigeria’s inflation is driven by structural supply constraints rather than excess demand.

“The critical distinction is between financing consumption, which principally expands demand, and financing productive capacity, which expands supply,” it stated.

The organisation said financing investments in agriculture, manufacturing, energy, storage and logistics would increase productive capacity and help moderate inflation over time.