Former AfDB President Adesina Proposes $10bn To Fund Africa’s AI Technology

Former president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina has proposed $10 billion to finance Africa’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) technological and industrial future, warning that the continent risks dependence on other countries if it fails to invest in technology and innovation.

Adesina said this while delivering his keynote address during the 2026 Leadership Conference, with the theme “ leadership for a prosperous future”, organised by the Oxford Global Think Tank and convened by the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Aruma Oteh, in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said, “I proposed the establishment of a $10 billion African AI frontier Technology Fund serving as the anchor for a much larger ambition to mobilise $ 50 billion over the next 10 years for Africa’s scientific, technological and industrial transformation.”

He warned that Africa cannot be a technological leader if it does not fiancé its scientific ambitions, saying, “if we fail to invest in our own research, infrastructure and technology enterprise, we risk spending the next generation purchasing technologies developed elsewhere and paying for Intellectual Property Rights own elsewhere creating market which others capture and becoming dependent on others.”

He noted that Africa must lead the AI race for the future, as the world is entering a technological revolution that will fundamentally reshape the global distribution of economic power, adding that the decisions that are being made today about AI will determine the countries that will develop the technologies of the future, companies that own them and the economies that will capture the greatest share of the world market.

“The race is already underway. Throughout history, nations that mattered in defining technologies of their time shape the global economy. Those who fail to do so often become dependent on those that did it.

“The industrial revolution created new economic powers, the digital revolution created global technology cooperation, and transformed the distribution of wealth, “AI is now creating another historic development this time and Africa must be on the right side of that development.

“Who will own the future of AI, who will develop its transformative technologies, who will own its intellectual property, build the global companies and capture the economic value and shape the standards? Where does Africa stand when this future is being decided in real time?” he asked.

He pointed out that Africa, with its rapidly increasing population estimated to be about 2.5 billion by 2050 cannot afford to depend on others for its technological needs and must determine its economic destiny, adding that the continent must approach the AI revolution as a bloc seeking not permission to participate but determined not to follow, not to borrow but to lead.

Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in his reactions called for concerted efforts by African leaders to take charge in driving the continent’s technological future through reforms.

Also speaking about the reforms in Nigeria, the Kano Monarch advised the President Bola Tinubu led government to apply a practical approach to address poverty and hunger ravaging the country even as he acknowledged that the current administration has reduced inflation and improved the GDP growth rate.

Chairman of the occasion Atedo Peterside, blamed African and Nigerian technological disadvantages on massive corruption, which he said must be tackled so that resources can be channeled to the critical sectors to transform the region.

Convener of the dialogue Oteh, said that Africa’s domestic market is critical in the overall development of the region even as she called for greater retail participation in the capital market.