GITEX Nigeria Opens in Abuja as FG Pushes Sovereign AI, Digital Economy

"GITEX Nigeria is being held under the patronage of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and is supported by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA."

The Second Edition of GITEX Nigeria opened in Abuja on Monday, bringing together senior government officials, global technology leaders, investors and other stakeholders as the country intensifies efforts to build indigenous innovation, digital infrastructure and sovereign artificial intelligence, AI, capabilities.

The four-day technology, AI and startup event, which runs from August 31 to September 3 across Abuja and Lagos, opened with the Government Leadership and AI Summit attended by more than 500 public and private sector leaders and investors from across Africa and other parts of the world.

GITEX Nigeria is being held under the patronage of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and is supported by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA.

The Lagos State Government endorsed the event, which is organised by KAOUN International.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said Nigeria was laying the foundation for digital sovereignty by building local capacity, infrastructure and the regulatory frameworks required to drive technology-led economic growth.

According to him, the country must own the capabilities, infrastructure and intelligence that will power its future.

He said strategic programmes, including Digital Literacy for All, DL4ALL, the 3 Million Technical Talent, 3MTT, programme and Project BRIDGE, were helping to expand Nigeria’s pool of technical talent and digital infrastructure.

Abdullahi said the initiatives were aimed at extending high-speed digital inclusion across all local government areas while strengthening the policy, cloud and regulatory frameworks needed to host data locally and deploy artificial intelligence responsibly.

He said: “GITEX Nigeria positions our country as a global force shaping the international tech ecosystem, not just participating in it.”

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, said the Federal Government was committed to moving Nigeria beyond being a consumer of foreign technology to becoming a global producer of digital talent, infrastructure and AI solutions.

Akume said the country's technology transformation agenda was central to the Federal Government's ambition of building a $1 trillion economy.

“GITEX Nigeria provides the strategic platform where government vision aligns with private sector execution,” he said.

“This is our opportunity for decisive transition from being mere consumers of foreign technology to becoming global producers of talent, sovereign infrastructure, and inclusively designed AI built by Nigeria, for Nigeria.

“We are leading a new era for Africa.”

The summit, held under the theme, ‘Beyond Connectivity – The Bridge to Sovereign AI & Innovation,’ focused on the policies, infrastructure, financing and partnerships required to accelerate digital transformation across Africa.

Discussions covered artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data sovereignty, digital public infrastructure, connectivity and investment, with more than 25 international experts participating.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, urged investors to look beyond Nigeria's traditional consumer fintech market and explore emerging opportunities in computing infrastructure and digital public services.

He said Lagos, with its extensive subsea cable capacity, electricity reforms, fibre infrastructure and data centre campuses, was well positioned to become a major destination for AI computing infrastructure.

Sanwo-Olu noted that Africa's AI workloads were currently being processed largely outside the continent, creating challenges relating to latency, cost and data sovereignty.

He said these challenges also represented significant investment opportunities.

The governor added that the digitisation of procurement, revenue collection, permitting, health records, transport and land administration was creating a large and recurring market for enterprise technology solutions.

GITEX Nigeria will move to Lagos from September 2 to 3 for its Tech Expo, Future Economy Conference and FDX by GITEX, where startups and entrepreneurs will engage investors and international technology firms.

Organisers said more than 200 investors from 30 countries, collectively managing about $200 billion in assets, would participate in the Lagos programme.

International investment firms expected at the event include Askya Investment Partners of France, Incofin Investment of Belgium, Triple Jump, Lightrock, Global Ventures and Innovest Afrika.

The event is expected to provide Nigerian and African startups opportunities to attract investment, secure strategic partnerships and access international markets.

Organisers said the impact of the platform was already evident from the inaugural 2025 edition, which connected venture studio FirstFounders with several startups.

One of the startups, Vant, an AI-powered business banking and management platform, subsequently secured an investment valued at $200,000 from FirstFounders.

GITEX Nigeria is expected to further strengthen Nigeria's position as one of Africa's leading technology hubs as government and industry leaders push for greater investment in digital infrastructure, innovation and locally developed AI solutions.