According to a recent Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) report titled; “AI for Africa: Use Cases Delivering Impact”, it noted that Nigeria has the potential to drive AI for social economic progress and climate development across the African continent.
This follows a report that suggests that AI could increase Africa’s economy by $2.9 trillion by 2030, the equivalent of increasing annual GDP by 3%, resulting in significant development impacts for the continent. The technology is reportedly being deployed across countries in Africa, however, there is not enough evidence of solutions focused on addressing pressing socio-economic and environmental challenges unique to the continent.
The GSMA report seeks to address this gap by identifying AI-enabled use cases and solutions for development in Nigeria, and some of the continent’s tech leaders.
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Speaking on the report, Head of Mobile for Development at the GSMA Max Cuvellier Giacomelli said,
“Nigeria’s potential to harness AI for transformative change is immense. The innovative applications we are already seeing in Agriculture, energy, and climate action are just the beginning. With further progress around data availability, connectivity, or skills development, the country can truly enable AI to drive significant socio-economic progress”.
Nigeria’s National Development Plan (2021-2025) aims to unlock the country’s potential across all sectors of the economy to foster sustainable and inclusive development, in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It acknowledges the challenges the country faces, including in agriculture and energy, and recognizes the role that technology and innovation can play in addressing these challenges.
Al is poised to be transformative in advancing sustainable development efforts in Nigeria. The technology is already being used to develop solutions across sectors such as Agriculture and food security, Energy, Climate Action, and Emerging Developing Maturing.
Agriculture And Food Security
Agriculture is a significant sector in Nigeria, employing almost 40% of the population and contributing to a quarter of its GDP. The report identifies that digital technologies offer significant potential to address the challenges faced by Nigerian smallholder farmers and improve agricultural value chains, particularly in the last mile.
These technologies include weather and climate services that provide farmers with crucial information to adapt to changing conditions, as well as agricultural digital financial services (agri DFS) that enable access to climate-smart inputs and assets.
Al-powered tools, such as predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms, support precision agriculture, optimize crop management, and facilitate access to inputs and equipment. For instance, Crop2Cash and Ignitia use Al to offer tailored farming recommendations, while Hello Tractor uses Al to connect tractor owners with smallholder farmers. Al also plays a crucial role in addressing food insecurity by forecasting hunger and identifying malnutrition hotspots.
Al-driven models, like those developed by the World Food Programme (WFP), analyze weather patterns, crop yields, and market data to provide early warnings of food shortages. However, the effectiveness of these models demands the availability of comprehensive historical data, necessitating regular and extensive data collection.
Energy
Nigeria has the world’s largest absolute electricity access deficit. Lack of access to the electricity grid affects 45% of the population, which is approximately 90 million people.
Al is seen as a key tool for enhancing grid efficiency, improving revenue collection, and reducing power outages. Digital technologies are also being used to support the deployment of mini-grids, which are crucial for extending energy services to off-grid communities.
Smart meters enhance the operational efficiency of these mini-grids by providing real-time insights into household energy usage. While Nigeria was slower than other countries like Kenya in launching mini-grids, the country has made significant progress, with over 100 new solar-powered mini-grids deployed by 2023 as part of its rural electrification program, supported by the World Bank.
Al is helping to bridge the infrastructure gaps by reducing costs and improving operational efficiency, as seen with Husk Power Systems, which uses Al to forecast supply and demand for better service extension. The off-grid sector in Nigeria has also seen a rise in solar home systems (SHS) that provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions.
The off-grid sector in Nigeria has also seen a rise in solar home systems (SHS) that provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions. Startups like Lumos use loT-based PAYG models to offer SHS to various households and businesses, reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The integration of Al into loT-based PAYG solutions, such as Azuri Technologies’ real-time analysis of user consumption patterns, is expected to grow due to the complementary nature of these technologies. Al has the potential to significantly impact the planning and deployment of both on-grid and off-grid energy solutions in Nigeria.
Climate Action
While Nigeria has very low greenhouse gas emissions, it is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Al has the potential to significantly enhance the effectiveness and impact of climate tech solutions. Google Research, for example, has developed Al models capable of forecasting floods, providing alerts up to seven days in advance, which enables more effective early warning and disaster preparedness.
Google’s Floods initiative is available in over 80 countries, including Nigeria, where a pilot was conducted in collaboration with UNOCHA. In the area of climate finance, companies like Chemotronix are leveraging Al alongside other emerging technologies, such as loT and blockchain, for their carbon credit platforms. These technologies are used to collect environmental data to measure, report, and verify emissions, contributing to more accurate and reliable climate action.
Future Outlook
The successful development and deployment of Al-enabled use cases depend on the establishment of robust Al fundamentals, encompassing factors such as data availability and quality, skills, and digital literacy, and infrastructure and compute capacity.
It also relies on the broader enabling environment, which includes critical enablers such as strategic partnerships, sufficient and targeted investment and funding, conducive policy frameworks, and dedicated research and development (R&D) efforts.