Nigeria and other developing countries could miss the artificial intelligence revolution unless they urgently adapt the technology to local needs, a senior World Bank official warned on Wednesday.
Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President for Development Economics, issued the caution while delivering the keynote address at the 7th Africa Emerging Markets Forum in Abuja.
“There is a danger that countries like Nigeria, countries like India and others will miss this industrial revolution,” Gill said. He drew a historical parallel, adding: “You have to remember… what happened when we missed the Industrial Revolution? You ended up being behind for 200 years. You can’t miss this.”
Gill argued that AI offers greater opportunities than risks for developing economies because it is more likely to complement workers than replace them. Only about 10 percent of jobs in poorer countries are likely to be adversely affected, compared with 30 to 40 percent in advanced economies, he said
He highlighted the high returns from “back-end predictive AI” in areas such as agriculture, healthcare, education and judicial services, citing practical examples from Kenya, Bangladesh and India’s Telangana State.
Gill urged governments to prioritise predictive AI, invest in digital infrastructure and skills, promote system interoperability and support industry-led standards rather than relying solely on regulation. “No country has enough money to compete with the US and China,” he noted.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also spoke at the forum, saying the time to seize opportunities from AI and supply-chain diversification is now. Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso called on Africa to move beyond consuming technology and become a creator of AI-driven solutions.
