The Senior Program Officer at the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Isa Garba, has called on Nigerians to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) and use it as a tool for wealth creation and national development.
Speaking at the 6th edition of the Kano Social Influencers Summit (KANSIS), themed; “Toward a more inclusive Governance of AI”, Garba, who represented the Executive Director of CITAD, Y.Z. Yau said the summit was established to educate people on the use of technology and to ensure that Nigerians do not lag behind in the global digital transformation.
Garba explained that people must stop fearing AI and start understanding how to use it responsibly.
“We need to wake up, learn AI, and use it to create wealth and drive development,” he said.
“If we continue to depend on others and remain passive users of technology, we will be cheated by the same systems we depend on.”
He illustrated how AI algorithms already influence people’s daily lives.
“If you open a video on social media and watch it, the next thing you see are similar videos. That’s because AI has studied your pattern and feeds you what it thinks you want. This shows how powerful AI is and why we must understand and control it.”
Another speaker, Prof. Bala Mohammed from Bayero University, Kano, warned that the misuse of AI could worsen disinformation and threaten democracy.
“Wrongful deployment of AI has become one of the greatest communication challenges confronting African countries,” he said.
“Balancing innovation with ethics is the only way to ensure AI supports truth and social stability.”
Similarly, Abdulmalik Jamoh, who represented the National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, cautioned that AI systems often collect user data without consent, posing risks to personal privacy.
He called for strong governance frameworks and privacy-by-design policies to ensure AI serves the public good.
Representing the Governor of Kano State, the Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Waiya, commended CITAD for sustaining the summit and said the theme on AI was relevant to Nigeria’s current realities.
“There is a low level of literacy among Nigerians on AI. Other countries have gone far in using Artificial Intelligence, but Nigeria is still behind. People must stop seeing it as a threat and start embracing it for development.”
He noted that the Kano State Government has created a Ministry of Information Technology to promote digital transformation, adding that the ministry will soon have laws and guidelines to support technological innovation and youth empowerment.
Experts at the summit agreed that addressing the challenges surrounding Artificial Intelligence requires a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach, involving government agencies, academia, civil society, the private sector, and media organizations.
They emphasized that achieving meaningful progress will depend on raising the level of digital and AI literacy among Nigerians to ensure that everyone, regardless of gender, disability, or background, can benefit from technological innovations.
The summit also featured several panel discussions and showcased social influencers such as Dan Bello, J.J. Omojuwa, Rinu Oduola, and RaRaRa, among others.
