At the University of Lagos, Lagos State Deputy Governor Hamzat placed a quiet but consequential argument before Nigeria's academic community: that artificial intelligence, to serve a nation, must first speak its languages. Addressing chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and uneven resources, he called not for the importation of foreign technology but for the cultivation of indigenous intelligence — AI systems rooted in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and the lived realities of Nigerian learners. His vision belongs to a larger human question that every society must eventually answer: whether
Lagos Deputy Governor Calls for AI Integration in Nigerian Schools with Indigenous Language Support
Build African intelligence into artificial intelligence.
Mark
So the deputy governor is saying Nigeria should build its own AI rather than import it. What does that actually mean in practice?
Mimi
It means designing systems that understand Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo—the languages children speak at home. An AI tutor that can explain a math problem in the language a kid thinks in, not just English.
Luke
That's the vision. But who builds it? UNILAG has an Edu-AI Hub and has trained 14,000 people. That's real work. But is that enough infrastructure to create AI systems at scale across Nigeria?
Mimi
That's the point of the seven-point agenda—universities become centers for developing these solutions, and private companies contribute resources. It's a call for a whole ecosystem.
Mark
He also said AI literacy should be mandatory for every undergraduate, not just tech students. Why does that matter?
Mimi
Because AI is going to reshape every profession. A lawyer, a doctor, an accountant—they'll all need to understand what AI can and cannot do. It's not optional anymore.
Luke
True. But mandatory curriculum requires teachers who understand AI themselves. Hamzat says every teacher should have access to practical training. That's a massive undertaking. How many teachers are we talking about in Nigeria, and who trains them?
Mimi
That's where the private sector comes in—telecom companies, banks, tech firms. They have resources.
Mark
And the digital divide he mentioned—public schools versus private schools?
Luke
That's the real tension in the speech. You can have the best AI curriculum in the world, but if half the country doesn't have reliable electricity or internet, you've solved the problem for the privileged.
Mimi
Which is why Adefuye emphasized that public-school students and teachers cannot be left behind. It has to be deliberate.
Mark
So this isn't just about technology. It's about equity.
Mimi
Exactly. The technology is the tool. The question is whether it reaches everyone or just the people who already have access.
Il Polso
- Nigeria's classrooms are already under strain — teacher shortages, overcrowding, and thin resources create a crisis that cannot wait for gradual reform.
- Hamzat's proposal cuts against the default assumption that AI for Africa simply means importing solutions designed elsewhere, insisting instead that culturally and linguistically relevant systems must be built from within.
- A seven-point agenda spanning teacher training, curriculum reform, infrastructure, and research capacity signals an ambition far broader than any single policy announcement.
- Universities are being challenged to stop producing AI users and start producing AI creators — with AI literacy made compulsory across all undergraduate disciplines, not just technology programs.
- Beneath the optimism runs a sharp warning: if public schools and under-resourced communities are left out, the AI revolution risks deepening the very inequalities it promises to solve.
At the University of Lagos, Lagos State Deputy Governor Hamzat placed a quiet but consequential argument before Nigeria's academic community: that artificial intelligence, to serve a nation, must first speak its languages. Addressing chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and uneven resources, he called not for the importation of foreign technology but for the cultivation of indigenous intelligence — AI systems rooted in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and the lived realities of Nigerian learners. His vision belongs to a larger human question that every society must eventually answer: whether transformative tools will be shaped by the people they are meant to serve, or merely handed down to them.
Standing before an audience at the University of Lagos, Lagos State Deputy Governor Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat made an argument that has grown quietly urgent across Africa: Nigeria cannot simply purchase artificial intelligence from abroad. It must build its own.
Speaking at the 13th Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe Memorial Anniversary Lecture, Hamzat called for AI to be embedded into Nigerian schools — but with a defining condition. The systems must work in the languages Nigerians actually speak. An AI tutor explaining mathematics in Yoruba, science in Hausa, or literacy in Igbo is not the product being marketed to most African nations. It is something Nigeria would have to create for itself.
He framed this not as ambition but as necessity. Chronic teacher shortages, dangerously overcrowded classrooms, and uneven connectivity are not future problems — they are present ones. AI, he argued, could help teachers differentiate instruction, flag struggling students, and ease the administrative burden of planning and grading, without replacing the human beings at the front of the room.
Hamzat outlined a seven-point agenda covering teacher preparation, student literacy, curriculum reform, infrastructure, data systems, assessment, and research. Crucially, he rejected the idea that AI literacy belongs only to technology students, calling instead for it to become compulsory across all undergraduate disciplines. He urged universities to become centers of local innovation rather than consumers of imported tools, and challenged private companies to make educational platforms more affordable and extend investment beyond Nigeria's traditional elite institutions.
The University of Lagos offered evidence that the work has already begun. Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Olumuyiwa Falaye noted the institution's Edu-AI Hub and AI literacy programs, which have reached more than 14,000 participants. Yet Yaba Local Council Chairman Dr. Bayo Adefuye offered a necessary caution: without genuine collaboration across government, academia, technology, and the private sector, AI could widen the very divide it is meant to close. Building African intelligence into artificial intelligence is one challenge. Ensuring that intelligence reaches every classroom — not only the privileged ones — is another entirely.
Lagos State Deputy Governor Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat stood before an audience at the University of Lagos last week and made a case that has quietly become urgent across Africa: Nigeria cannot simply buy artificial intelligence off the shelf. It must build its own.
Speaking at the 13th Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe Memorial Anniversary Lecture, Hamzat called for a systematic push to embed AI into Nigerian schools—but with a crucial condition. The systems must work in the languages Nigerians actually speak. Imagine, he said, an AI tutor that explains mathematics in Yoruba, science in Hausa, literacy in Igbo, or helps a child learn through Pidgin. That is not the AI being sold to most African countries. That is something Nigeria would have to build.
The deputy governor framed this not as a luxury but as a response to a crisis. Nigeria faces chronic teacher shortages, classrooms so crowded that instruction becomes nearly impossible, learning resources spread thin across regions, and connectivity that remains uneven at best. AI, he argued, could help address these gaps—but only if it was designed for Nigerian realities, not imported wholesale from Silicon Valley or elsewhere. Teachers would not be replaced; instead, intelligent systems could help them differentiate instruction, generate practice problems at different difficulty levels, analyze student assessments, flag children falling behind, and handle the administrative weight of lesson planning and grading.
Hamzat proposed a seven-point agenda centered on preparing teachers, students, curriculum, infrastructure, data systems, assessment methods, and research capacity. Every teacher, he said, should have access to practical AI training. Every student should gain age-appropriate AI literacy. The curriculum itself should prepare young people not only for jobs that exist today but for work that has not yet been imagined.
He also pushed back against a common assumption: that AI literacy is a specialty for technology students. It is not, he said. It is essential competence for the workforce of the future, period. This means making AI literacy compulsory for every undergraduate across all disciplines. He called on universities to stop merely teaching students how to use existing AI tools and instead become centers for developing knowledge and solutions rooted in Nigerian and African problems. Private companies—telecommunications firms, banks, technology companies—should make educational platforms more affordable, contribute computing resources to universities, and expand their talent investments beyond Nigeria's traditional elite institutions.
The University of Lagos, represented by Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Olumuyiwa Falaye, highlighted its own work in this space. The institution has launched an Edu-AI Hub and run AI literacy programs that have reached more than 14,000 participants. Falaye echoed Hamzat's point: Nigeria must move beyond adopting AI tools to developing a generation of creators, innovators, and problem-solvers who can use the technology to address the country's educational and wider societal challenges.
Yaba Local Council Development Area Chairman Dr. Bayo Adefuye sounded a note of caution. Greater collaboration among government, educational institutions, technology experts, and the private sector would be necessary, he said, to ensure that AI transforms Nigeria's education system without widening the digital divide. Public-school students and teachers must not be left behind in the AI revolution. That gap—between those who have access to advanced tools and those who do not—is perhaps the deepest challenge beneath Hamzat's proposal. Building African intelligence into artificial intelligence is one task. Ensuring that intelligence reaches every classroom, not just the wealthy ones, is another.
Citazioni salienti
Imagine an AI educational assistant that can explain mathematics in Yoruba, explain science in Hausa, support literacy in Igbo and help a child learn in Pidgin.— Deputy Governor Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat
AI should not be viewed as a replacement for teachers, but as a tool to amplify their effectiveness.— Deputy Governor Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat
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