Nigeria requires law not framework to govern use of AI – CEPTI

The Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CEPTI) has called for a Law to govern the use of artificial intelligence as part of efforts to drive data protection and economic growth. The Center made this known on Thursday in Abuja during a forum on “Assessment of the Artificial Intelligence Governance Framework in Nigeria.” Speaking […]

The Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CEPTI) has called for a Law to govern the use of artificial intelligence as part of efforts to drive data protection and economic growth.

The Center made this known on Thursday in Abuja during a forum on “Assessment of the Artificial Intelligence Governance Framework in Nigeria.”

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director at CEPTI, Dr. Umar Yakubu said the essence of the programme program is to assess the Artificial Intelligence Governance Framework in Nigeria as technology has grown rampant and every day life including the banking sector, the health sector, journalism among others.

“As a civil society, the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public integrity, we’re interested in the governance framework. What are the rules? What are the laws? What are the policies? Around all this AI we are using, are there any regulations, or are we just using it without any form of regulation? As you can see from the presentation, we found that there’s a lot of AI adoption, there’s a lot of AI use, a lot of money is being spent, but there are a lot of national security risks, and there are a lot of risks in different sectors, in the health care sector, in the education sector, where a lot of data, our data is being used for different purposes.

“As a civil society, we felt there was the need to make government be aware and be responsible that there are things to do to ensure that these frameworks are robust and meet international standards, so that we don’t fall victims around national security and governance issues.

“Therefore, we feel first thing that needs to be done is from the policy makers. That’s why we have the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication here, we have the NITDA, we have the National Data Protection Agency, we have the Bureau of Public Service Report and the first thing is not to have an AI policy, but to have a law, a robust law that protects citizens, it protects citizens’ data, and we have to make sure it includes our own national systems and national values,” he explained.

Dr. Yakubu also added, “that there is a need for a robust inter-agency cooperation, because what the financial sector is looking at will be different from what the health sector will be looking at. So there has to be an inter-agency cooperation to be coordinated by the regular policy makers.”

Also speaking from the government side, Director General of the, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dasuki Arabi noted that in Nigeria, the adoption of digital technologies, including AI, is gradually gaining momentum, rom automated systems in public finance management to data-driven policy formulation and smart service delivery platforms, the potential of AI to transform governance is immense.

He further stated that “However, as with any powerful technology, the deployment of AI comes with its own set of challenges and risks.Key among these are issues related to data privacy, ethical considerations, algorithmic bias, accountability, transparency, and regulatory oversight. Without a well-defined governance framework, the use of AI in public institutions could lead to unintended consequences, including exclusion, discrimination, and erosion of public trust.,”

On the backdrop of that, he said, “It is in recognition of these realities that this forum becomes not only relevant but essential. The objective of this engagement is to bring together critical stakeholders to examine the current state of AI governance in Nigeria, identify existing gaps, and collectively propose practical and sustainable solutions.”