{"id":56831,"date":"2026-01-13T14:58:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/nigeria-set-to-pass-landmark-ai-law\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T14:57:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:57:53","slug":"nigeria-set-to-pass-landmark-ai-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/nigeria-set-to-pass-landmark-ai-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria set to pass landmark AI law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The bill is expected to be passed by March 2026, marking a significant step in Africa\u2019s evolving approach to AI governance.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed legislation is part of the National Digital Economy and E\u2011Governance Bill, which expands regulatory authority  especially that of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) over AI systems, algorithms, digital platforms, and data across sectors. <\/p>\n<p>Under the framework, regulators would have the power to request information, issue enforcement directives, and block or restrict unsafe or harmful AI tools.<\/p>\n<p>The bill also seeks to promote ethical standards in AI, prioritizing fairness, accountability, and transparency in how AI systems operate. It would adopt a risk\u2011based approach to oversight and give regulators stronger enforcement powers, including the authority to impose penalties on developers or users who fail to comply with the rules.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to oversight mechanisms, the legislation is designed to support innovation and protect emerging technology businesses, creating a safer ecosystem for startups and fostering responsible AI development across the country.<\/p>\n<p>If passed, Nigeria\u2019s AI regulatory framework would place the country at the forefront of AI governance in Africa, ahead of many other nations that have adopted AI strategies but not yet established binding legal frameworks.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-100543\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/kiop.jpg\" alt=\"Nigeria is poised to become one of the first African countries to formally regulate artificial intelligence (AI) after lawmakers.  \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria is poised to become one of the first African countries to formally regulate artificial intelligence (AI) after lawmakers moved to approve a comprehensive legislative framework addressing AI\u2019s risks and opportunities in the digital economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000100542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000100542,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/kiop.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/kiop.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/kiop.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/kiop.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/kiop.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/kiop.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000100542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56831"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56831"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}