Nigeria’s AI bill and plan to pool computing power with African neighbours

Nigeria is preparing new rules for artificial intelligence and proposing a pan-African approach to one of the biggest obstacles to building AI on the continent: the cost of computing power.

The proposed AI bill

Speaking at the BUILD 2026 conference in Abuja in October, Dr Olubunmi Ajala, national director of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), outlined what the proposed AI bill would do:

• Protect national data and promote digital sovereignty.
• Allow Nigeria to host other African countries’ data in shared “data parks”.
• Promote transparency and accountability without stifling innovation.
• Encourage investment by Nigerian firms and international cloud companies. “That bill gives provision for Nigerians to invest, but it also gives opportunity for hyperscalers to invest in Nigeria,” Ajala said.
• Create regulatory sandboxes, where AI applications can be tested before wider use.

The bill is still at the proposal stage.

Pooling computing power

At the same event, Nigeria proposed linking its AI computing resources, known as GPUs, with those in Rwanda, Senegal and Kenya. Researchers and developers could then pool resources to build and run large AI models, including language models, without each country having to build expensive infrastructure alone.

Nigeria is also discussing a regional data park with Togo, using available electricity capacity.

The obstacles

Communications Minister Bosun Tijani, represented by Ajala, warned that global competition for advanced chips could widen Africa’s gap with richer economies. Other challenges include:

• Electricity, since data centres need large amounts of reliable power.
• Connectivity: about 20 million Nigerians are still not connected to the internet, according to Ajala.
• Dependence on foreign cloud services, which Melanie Hui, chief executive of Luminate, estimated costs Nigeria about $850 million a year.

Why it matters

Nigeria has Africa’s largest population and one of its most active tech sectors. If it can build shared AI infrastructure with its neighbours, it could reduce dependence on foreign technology companies. If not, Hui warned, African countries risk remaining consumers of foreign technology and suppliers of raw data and minerals.

What to watch

• Formal introduction of the AI bill to the National Assembly.
• Agreements with Rwanda, Senegal, Kenya and Togo on shared computing.
• Power supply for planned data parks.

Sources: Voice of Nigeria, 21 October 2026; Business Post Nigeria, 22 October 2026; iAfrica.

Top photo: Abuja seen from Katampe hill (file photo). Photo: Kritzolina, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0