The Chief Executive Officer of Dochase ADX, Chibuike Goodnews, has said that Nigeria has major opportunities to leapfrog into the artificial intelligence (AI) economy, but warned that inadequate power supply, data-centre capacity and local chip production could limit the country’s ability to compete beyond the application of existing AI technologies.
Goodnews stated this during an interview on Channels Television this morning while discussing growing global concerns over the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence, including questions around safety, regulation, employment, privacy and the potential risks associated with increasingly autonomous AI systems.
Goodnews said Nigeria’s large population, high internet usage and growing adoption of AI give the country a strong market for the technology. However, he noted that the country still has significant gaps in the infrastructure required to produce AI technologies at scale.
According to him, there are five major layers in the AI ecosystem: power, data centres, chips, AI models, and AI agents and software.
He added that Nigeria’s immediate opportunity lies particularly in the final layer, where local innovators can develop products and platforms using existing AI models and infrastructure.
“AI gives us that golden, fantastic opportunity for us here to level up in terms of what the world is doing. In the industrial age, we never caught up. In the other revolutions that happened, we never caught up. But here, we can,” he said.
Weighing in on the adoption versus affordability debate, Goodnews said Nigerians are already embracing AI at a significant rate, estimating that more than 60 million people use the technology.
He, however, said the country’s challenge is not necessarily adoption but the ability of users to pay for AI services. “In terms of usage, we’re doing fantastic work. But in terms of spending, we may not be there because our purchasing power is not as high as we think it is,” he said.
He explained that payment infrastructure for AI subscriptions is already available through local and international cards, making affordability a bigger concern than payment access.
According to him, the economic situation means relatively few Nigerians can afford high-value AI subscriptions, despite the growing dependence on the technology.
The Dochase CEO said Nigeria still has a long way to go in developing the infrastructure required for deeper participation in the AI value chain.
He identified power, data centres and chip manufacturing as areas where the country faces substantial limitations.
“I can count the number of data centres that are in Nigeria, and they’re not even the capacity for AI,” he said, adding that Nigeria does not currently have a company manufacturing chips locally.
Goodnews nevertheless urged stakeholders to focus on the opportunities available in AI-powered software, platforms and product delivery.
On global concerns about increasingly powerful AI systems, Goodnews backed compulsory safety testing before advanced AI products are released to the public.
He argued that AI developers are moving faster than regulators and that safeguards should be introduced before systems become significantly more autonomous. “I believe it should be tested for humanity’s sake before it goes public,” he said.
He also warned that increasingly autonomous AI could attempt to overcome obstacles without human intervention, making safety guardrails necessary.
Goodnews attributed part of the difficulty in regulating AI globally to competition between the United States and China.
He said both countries are concerned about the other gaining technological dominance, creating what he described as a race for control.
“The real reason AI is becoming difficult to regulate is there’s a struggle for dominance, a race to see who gets to control,” he said.
On proposals for a “kill switch” for advanced AI systems, Goodnews said the concept could be useful but questioned who would ultimately control such a mechanism.
“A kill switch is possible, but who controls the kill switch?” he asked.
He maintained that Nigeria’s greatest immediate advantage remains its human capital, saying the country can build AI-powered products even while major gaps remain in the underlying infrastructure.