The Director-General/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, joined distinguished global leaders and development champions in a high-level dialogue focused on leveraging technology, innovation and social business to advance sustainable and inclusive development.
The high-level opening session featured Dr. Khalilur Rahman, President of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly; José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and 1996 Nobel Peace Laureate; Dasho Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan; Wellington Dias, Brazil’s State Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger; and Bilal Bin Saqib, MBE, Minister of State and Chairman of Pakistan’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.
The programme also featured Professor Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate, Founder of Grameen Bank and Chair of the Global Committee on Social Business for Sustainable Development Goals.
The session was welcomed by Ms. Lamiya Morshed, Executive Director of the Yunus Centre, and co-moderated by Mr. Dominique V. Dauster, Managing Director, Yunus+You – YY Foundation, and Mr. James Chau, President of the China-United States Exchange Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador.
In his keynote, Abdullahi challenged the global community to look beyond simply expanding access to Artificial Intelligence and focus on building an AI future founded on Representation, Access and Agency.
He argued that truly inclusive AI must reflect the data, languages, cultures, contexts and values of the people it is designed to serve, while empowering citizens not merely to consume AI, but to understand it, build with it, shape it and create value from it.
Illustrating the transformative potential of AI, the DG painted the picture of a Nigerian farmer who may have limited access to agronomists but could have an AI-enabled agronomist in his pocket; helping him understand weather conditions and soil, assess crop challenges and connect to markets.
He stressed that the value of AI should ultimately be measured in better decisions, improved productivity, higher incomes and stronger families and communities.
Abdullahi highlighted four foundations underpinning Nigeria’s approach to an inclusive AI future.
He referenced efforts to expand connectivity through Project BRIDGE, build digital and technical capabilities through DL4ALL, 3MTT and TVET, strengthen sovereign cloud and AI capabilities, and create an enabling environment in which entrepreneurs can develop sustainable solutions to real societal problems.
On digital sovereignty, he emphasised that Nigeria’s objective is not technological isolation, but the capacity to ensure that AI understands Nigerian data, context and nuances, operates within Nigerian law and reflects national culture and values, while remaining open to global investment, models and partnerships.
The DG further called for shared responsibility across government, business and citizens.
He said government must create enabling infrastructure, policy clarity and regulatory certainty while protecting citizens.
A central element of his message was the need to preserve human accountability as AI becomes increasingly embedded in decisions affecting health, livelihoods, rights and public services.
“We can delegate tasks to machines. We cannot delegate accountability.”
He concluded by challenging policymakers, technology companies and innovators to ask two questions whenever they develop an AI system: Who is represented in the intelligence we are creating? And who has the agency to shape and create value from that intelligence?
His closing message captured Nigeria’s vision for an AI future centred not merely on technological sophistication, but on human progress:
“The defining achievement of the AI age should not be that we created machines capable of extraordinary intelligence. It should be that we used that intelligence to unlock extraordinary human possibility; for everyone.”
