Nigeria Must Become AI Hub For Africa – Agogbua

Founder/CEO of a pan-African digital infrastructure company, Kasi Cloud, Mr Johnson Agogbua, has challenged the Nigerian government on the need to reposition the country for greater relevance in the future of Artificial Intelligence in Africa.

He asked the government to build locally-owned AI infrastructure that will help the country’s transition into becoming more than just the consumer of others.

Agogbua was a panel discussant at the Minister–Regulator and Telecom Executives Forum during an interactive session with the National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji.

The forum focused on strengthening data governance, cybersecurity, compliance and user protection—critical pillars for building a trusted and globally competitive digital economy.

He said, “It’s time for us to be bold. We are way behind when it comes to digital infrastructure and transitioning into the digital economy and the honourable minister has done quite a lot to educate us and to shine light on it and uplift it.

Now I think we ought not to be afraid of AI but we need to build that capacity.

If we do not create our own AI factory, our own AI capacity, we will be buying it and become mere consumers of others’.

“We have a unique opportunity to really think AI first in Nigeria – a unique opportunity to drive hyperscale cloud region in Nigeria. The accessible market population rises upwards of 500 million people – very few markets in the world have that size. So, when you when people hear that we (KASI) are building to 100 megawatts capacity, they drop their jaw, and I say that’s actually too small. If we are to supply to meet the challenge there should be multiple KASIs building at that capacity.”

The Nigerian minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani was present at the high-level forum which had in attendance, policymakers, regulators, CEOs, innovators, and thought leaders. Although, the Kasi founder praised the Nigerian Government for committing $2 billion to a major fibre-infrastructure initiative aimed at deploying an additional 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable across the country, as well as its plan to involve schools in providing free online classes and digitizing government, he opined that whilst this is a moonshot, it could come alongside the vision to “become the AI hub for Africa and pull an outsized weight on AI”.

“Getting these chipsets have become really a battle and there’s a whole bunch of us in the chip business. Can that moonshot include being somewhat reliant on ourselves on this amazing tech?” he asked.

The Minister had the opportunity to further engage with the KASI CEO on the matter during his exciting interactive session with the ATCON President, Mr. Tony Emoekpere, Dr. Tijani explained that there are not many things that a minister of ICT should be prioritizing anywhere in the world that he is not prioritizing. This includes looking at the ways in which Nigeria can reposition and start to accelerate its participation and build the absorptive capacity to become a stronger participant in the AI ecosystem.

“On things like AI, when I came it was obvious that Nigeria was slow to the game with a lot of African countries actually and the narrative out there is that it’s a resource-heavy opportunity. So, most countries stay away from it because they think they don’t have the resources. But when you look at Oxford University rating for AI readiness, Nigeria is now rated 100% on vision and I think it was because of the way we design our AI strategy,” he said.

While emphasizing that government cannot do this alone, he informed the audience about the setting up of ‘AI Collective’ – a committee of experts to give directions, as well as the Federal Executive Council’s approval of the AI Trust which is a board of trustees made up of “well connected rich individuals who understand technology” and would continue to help Nigeria prioritize development in artificial intelligence to safeguard the future where perhaps the minister is not interested in AI.

This collaborative approach, he believes, is the key to unlocking the growth desired by Mr. Johnson Agogbua, adding that there must be more to this than government efforts.

Later in the day, Mr. Agogbua was honoured with the Digital Luminary Award (Gold Category) at the maiden Telecoms Excellence Awards Night 2025 in Abuja, which was the climax of the Minister-Regulator-Telecom Executives Forum, organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).

The event themed, “Driving Nigeria’s Digital Economy: Policy, Regulation, and Industry Synergy”, was graced by key government officials, including Governors of Benue and Cross Rivers State as well as top industry regulators, chief executives of leading telecom and technology companies, and representatives of development partners.

Presenting the award to the Founder/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kasi Cloud, Johnson Agogbua, ATCON President, Tony Emoekpere, said the Digital Luminary Award was conceived to recognise organisations whose work has significantly advanced Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda, and that Kasi Cloud’s emergence in the Gold Category reflected its strategic investments in world-class data infrastructure and its growing impact on the nation’s digital economy.

Receiving the award, Agogbua, expressed excitement that the honour, coming few months to its official launch, is early proof of Kasi Cloud’s mission to accelerate digital transformation and cloud in Africa, while building the foundation for the brand’s positioning to lead Africa’s tech future.

“It’s a wonderful thing for us at Kasi. We are building hyperscale data centers for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud,” he said. “And I believe this will usher in and accelerate a different level of interconnection and communications applications, as well as data resident in Nigeria”.

He added, “At a time when data sovereignty, infrastructure localization, and inclusive digital growth are imperative. We see our role not just as builders of facilities but as enablers of Africa’s long-term digital resilience and competitiveness”.