Nigeria Proposes AI Infrastructure Collaboration with Africa

The Federal Government of Nigeria has proposed a shared artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure with Rwanda, Senegal, and Kenya to enhance Africa's capacity for developing and running AI models. Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, announced this initiative on Wednesday in Abuja during the Build 2026 conference organized by the Nigeria AI Collective.

Through Olubunmi Ajala, the National Director of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Tijani explained that this collaboration would allow the participating countries to pool their graphics processing unit (GPU) resources for large-scale computing tasks. He noted that Nigeria could connect its GPU resources with infrastructure funded by the Gates Foundation in Rwanda, as well as resources in Senegal and Kenya.

Tijani highlighted challenges such as electricity supply, internet connectivity, and access to specialized chips as major constraints to AI development in Africa. He also mentioned Nigeria's improvement in the Oxford AI Readiness Index, moving from 103rd to 73rd place over two years.