Mr Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has called on African leaders to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a critical lever to reimagine leadership, transform governance, and redefine decision-making in the continent’s digital era.
Speaking at GITEX Africa 2025 in Marrakesh, during a high-level panel themed “Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Strategic Leadership”, Inuwa highlights how AI is not just reshaping technology but also the very DNA of leadership across Africa.
“First off, we need to understand how AI is presenting to us unprecedented opportunity to redefine how we lead, how we make decision, and how we drive progress,” the NITDA DG says, while addressing a global audience of policy makers, tech leaders and innovators gathered at Africa’s premier technology showcase.
“To drive strategic leadership, you need to be an AI-driven leader,” Inuwa says. “You need to find a way you can use AI as a tool to create a co-intelligence, meaning creating a collective intelligence whereby you bring people and computers to work together to deliver your strategic vision as a leader.”
According to him, the continent’s future leadership must be built on what he terms “co-intelligence”—a symbiotic relationship where human intelligence and machine learning harmonise to deliver smarter, strategic, and inclusive governance.
“To drive strategic leadership, you need to be an AI-driven leader,” Inuwa says. “You need to find a way you can use AI as a tool to create a co-intelligence, meaning creating a collective intelligence whereby you bring people and computers to work together to deliver your strategic vision as a leader.”
Technology must follow strategy, not replace it
Inuwa asserts that the new digital paradigm requires African leaders to rethink how they structure their leadership priorities. Strategy, he insists, must come first—while technology follows as a tool, not a substitute.
This mindset shift, he explains, is necessary for leaders to unlock real business value by marrying AI capabilities with human potential. “It’s not just about automation. It’s about augmentation,” he says.
Building inclusive AI Governance in Africa
When it comes to governance, Inuwa is urging a departure from conventional approaches, warning that Africa cannot rely on traditional legal frameworks to steer its AI future.
“Governance is always difficult because it’s not something we can make reference to previous books, legal or history,” he says. “The generation before us never had to deal with this kind of situation. So it’s something that we need to co-design and co-create together.”
He unveils NITDA’s Regulatory Intelligence Framework, which he describes as a hybrid model that balances rule-based and non-rule-based mechanisms to foster innovation while protecting ethical and cultural values.
“You need to look at privacy. You need to look at security. You need to look at ethics. You need to look at representation as well,” Inuwa stresses. “Because the data, most of the time, does not represent the reality. So how can we make sure every citizen, every culture, every value is digitally visible?”
Cautioning Against AI Hallucinations and Bias
While lauding AI’s transformational potential, Inuwa also issues a clear warning about its limitations, particularly the risks associated with bias, hallucinations, and over-reliance on generative models.
“It’s about always considering the AI system you are using is the worst AI system you will ever use,” he says. “So if you have this in mind, that means you can create the mindset of putting the right guardrails in place.”
Away from policy talk, Nigerian startups are stealing the spotlight at GITEX Africa 2025, winning global accolades and investor interest that reinforce Nigeria’s growing role as a digital innovation hub.
NITDA states in a statement seen by Technology Times that Crop2Cash, a Nigerian agritech startup, clinches The Young CEO Award, including a $5,000 cash prize, for its role in empowering smallholder farmers using technology.
Vinsight, another standout innovator, is ranked among the top 10 finalists in the globally-coveted SUPERNOVA Special Awards, celebrating breakthrough technologies disrupting global markets.
Reflecting on these achievements, Inuwa says that the success of the 12 startups sponsored by NITDA is a bold testament to the power of homegrown innovation and Nigeria’s increasing influence in the global tech ecosystem.
“The participation of our startups at GITEX Africa is drawing investor attention and opening new doors for international partnerships,” he says. “These are the kinds of cross-border collaborations that are essential to shaping Africa’s digital future.”
Towards a Digital Africa: The Road Ahead
As Nigeria continues to invest in digital talent, adaptive regulation, and cross-sector partnerships, Inuwa’s vision is making a strong case for AI not only as a technology, but as a transformational force in governance, inclusion, and innovation.
By leading with co-intelligence and co-creation, he says, African leaders can position the continent not as passive consumers of AI, but as strategic contributors to a future shaped by shared values and smart systems.
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