Flutterwave Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, has mentioned Africa’s synthetic intelligence future must be formed by its cultural realities and local data to make sure the expertise addresses sensible issues and delivers options suited to the continent’s wants.
Agboola made the remarks on Monday, November 9, whereas delivering particular remarks on the launch of the Oxford Global Think Tank’s (OGTT) AI Virtual Centre and inaugural AI report in Abuja.
He additionally confused the significance of creating sensible AI purposes that deal with local challenges, reasonably than adopting expertise with out clear advantages to folks.
Africa must develop AI options for local wants
Explaining his place, Agboola mentioned Africa’s rising position in synthetic intelligence needs to be pushed by its personal data, cultural context and capability to develop options suited to local wants.
- “Africa’s future in generative AI should be shaped by its own cultural realities, intellectual capacity, and local knowledge,” he mentioned.
- “If technology does not solve a practical, human problem on the ground, it is just lines of code. The launch of this Virtual Centre and the AI Report represent a major milestone because they shift us from being mere observers of the technological revolution to active participants shaping it,” he added.
The Flutterwave chief government additionally emphasised the significance of cross-sector collaboration and an enabling ecosystem in advancing Africa’s position within the world AI panorama.
OGTT launches AI centre and unveils inaugural report
The AI Virtual Centre was launched throughout a devoted AI session on the 2026 OGTT Leadership Conference, held on the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
The digital platform is designed to interrupt down operational silos by bringing analysis, public coverage and market execution collectively to strengthen collaboration on AI improvement and deployment.
According to the organisation, the centre will facilitate collaborative knowledge monitoring and assist be certain that regulatory frameworks assist reasonably than stifle technological innovation.
The convention was convened by economist Arunma Oteh and co-chaired by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, and businessman Atedo Peterside.
It introduced collectively public- and private-sector stakeholders to foster partnerships round three central pillars: resilience, innovation and dynamism.
Nigeria’s push to construct local AI capabilities
The launch comes amid rising efforts by Nigeria and different African nations to strengthen local synthetic intelligence capabilities, shut infrastructure gaps and guarantee they play a larger position in creating and shaping AI applied sciences.
Nairametrics also reported in August that NITDA had signed key regulatory documents beneath the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, aimed toward strengthening Nigeria’s cloud ecosystem, digital infrastructure and funding in areas together with AI and knowledge centres.
