Nigeria’s Universities Must Align with AI Revolution – Pinheiro

Nigeria’s universities must urgently align their curricula with the fast-growing Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution to equip graduates with the practical skills required for emerging industries, Zipline Nigeria Country Director, Anthonio Pinheiro, has said.

Speaking in an interview with LEADERSHIP, Pinheiro said Nigeria possesses one of Africa’s largest pools of youthful talent but warned that universities and technical institutions must do more to prepare students for careers in AI, robotics and autonomous logistics.

“We have an incredible pool of young talent in Nigeria, and there is an opportunity to help them build the skills needed to power the next generation of AI and autonomous infrastructure,” he said.

Pinheiro, whose career has spanned leading technology firms including Andela, Ingressive Capital and now Zipline, said his experience across Africa’s technology ecosystem has shown that sustainable growth depends on three key pillars, people, process and data.

He said People, process and data are critical to achieving scale in industry.

According to him, organisations must create environments where talented people can thrive while maintaining high performance standards. Equally important, he said, is developing clear operational processes and using reliable data to guide decision-making.

He explained that companies that understand their customers and make decisions based on accurate data are better positioned to innovate and expand successfully.

Reflecting on Zipline’s operations in Nigeria, Pinheiro said the autonomous drone delivery company has already demonstrated how AI-powered logistics can strengthen healthcare delivery.

“Since launching in Nigeria in 2022, we have been privileged to serve more than six million people across three states, completed over 190,000 deliveries and delivered over 6.5 million vaccine doses and more than one million medical products. And we are just getting started,” he said.

Beyond healthcare, he believes autonomous delivery networks could eventually transform agriculture, e-commerce and disaster response.

“We also believe Zipline being here would inspire the local robotics and AI communities to develop hardware technology that would benefit the nation,” he added.

Pinheiro said Nigerian universities have a major role to play in supplying the skilled workforce required for the country’s growing digital economy.

He pointed to ongoing initiatives, including plans for an AI institute in Enugu State, private sector support for technology education at Obafemi Awolowo University and programmes at the Digital Bridge Institute, as encouraging developments.

“As we scale, we do see opportunities for Zipline to augment the efforts already being put in place by private and public institutions and make our contribution to this growing ecosystem.

“As we expand, we’re not just deploying technology; we’re aiming for long-term local capacity building that will drive Nigeria’s technology ecosystem for years to come.”

On graduate unemployment, Pinheiro said technology companies require professionals across several disciplines, not only engineers.

“For every hub we build, we create 30 to 40 highly skilled jobs for Nigerian pharmacists, flight operators, engineers, among other roles,” he said.

He added that Zipline also recruits data analysts, finance professionals, human resource personnel and operations managers.

“Having practical skills in AI, robotics, software engineering, data analytics and operations, alongside problem-solving and teamwork, will be essential for any student,” he said.

“Our goal is not just to prepare young people for jobs, but to build the local expertise needed to develop and operate Nigeria’s …