GITEX puts Nigeria’s AI ambition on global growth path

Nigeria’s ambition to turn artificial intelligence and emerging technologies into a new engine of economic growth is entering a critical phase as GITEX Global seeks to connect the country’s startups with international capital, customers and markets.

The message at the opening of GITEX Nigeria 2026 in Lagos was clear: Nigeria has built a sizeable pool of technology talent and startups, but the next test is whether those companies can scale beyond the domestic market and compete globally.

Trixie LohMirmand, chief executive officer of GITEX Global, said the country’s technology ecosystem could not unlock its full economic potential without access to international markets, capital and customers.

Read also: Q2 GDP growth positive, but recovery remains fragile — NECA

“Talent needs access to markets, startups need customers, while innovation requires capital and investor confidence,” LohMirmand said.

The scale of international interest around this year’s event underlines the opportunity.

Registrations for GITEX Nigeria 2026 have attracted participants from more than 90 countries, while more than 200 investors with assets under management exceeding $200 billion are expected at the Lagos gathering.

For Nigeria, the influx represents more than a technology exhibition. It offers a potential bridge between its growing technology ecosystem and the global pools of capital, expertise, partnerships and markets required to turn startups into durable businesses.

LohMirmand said GITEX was designed to compress years of business networking into days, giving Nigerian companies direct exposure to investors and international technology players. “Achievements that take years to build, we compress in days for you,” she said.

The challenge facing Nigeria is increasingly less about producing startups and more about helping them survive, scale and generate value at international levels.

LohMirmand cautioned against measuring the success of Nigeria’s technology ecosystem by the number of startups created alone. “It is not just celebrating the startups. This is only the first mile,” she said.

That warning comes as Nigerian founders face a technology market with significant opportunities but also constraints around access to capital, infrastructure, talent retention, regulation and the purchasing power needed to scale domestically.

GITEX is effectively positioning international market access as the next missing ingredient. The event has attracted technology companies and startups from a widening range of countries. Participation from Moscow, for instance, rose to 23 companies from one at the previous edition, while Canada moved from no participation to nine companies.

Nine startups from Lebanon were also brought to Lagos by the American University of Beirut with support from the Mastercard Foundation, while seven to nine startups from Europe and other regions are participating.

LohMirmand said such participation allows foreign companies and investors to see Nigeria’s market, policy environment, talent and investment opportunities first-hand.

For Nigerian startups, however, the larger opportunity is to convert those encounters into commercial relationships rather than treating GITEX as another conference or exhibition.

At the centre of the global push is artificial intelligence. Nigeria has increasingly positioned AI as a strategic technology capable of improving productivity across sectors ranging from financial services and healthcare to agriculture, education and government.

But LohMirmand warned that simply becoming a large consumer of AI products developed elsewhere would leave Nigeria primarily as a market for foreign technology. “Consuming AI just makes for a market. When you start to create AI, it makes you a superpower,” she added.

That distinction could become critical for Nigeria’s long-term digital economy. If Nigerian companies develop AI products that can solve local problems and then sell those solutions across Africa and other emerging markets, AI could become an export industry rather than simply another category of imported technology.

The opportunity is particularly significant because Nigeria possesses one of Africa’s largest technology talent pools and a huge domestic market that can serve as a testing ground for digital products.

But converting that advantage into global businesses will require more than entrepreneurial energy.

It will require access to computing infrastructure, reliable connectivity, financing, intellectual property protection, skilled workers and customers willing to adopt locally developed technology.

The government is seeking to build some of that foundation. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general and chief executive officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said Nigeria’s economic future would increasingly depend on its ability to convert human intelligence, creativity and problem-solving capacity into economic value.

He pointed to the integration of digital skills into formal education and the government’s 3 Million Technical Talent programme as part of efforts to create the workforce required by a technology-led economy.

Nigeria is also investing in emerging technologies including AI, the Internet of Things, robotics, blockchain, unmanned aerial vehicles and additive manufacturing.

“These are general purpose technologies that can help us to double or triple productivity in all critical sectors,” Abdullahi said.

Abdullahi highlighted sovereign cloud, electronic invoicing, public key infrastructure, startup certification and software testing as measures intended to strengthen trust, quality and participation in the digital economy.

The government is also targeting connectivity as a critical enabler of the AI economy. Abdullahi disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had approved Project BRIGHT for the rollout of 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure, alongside efforts to expand cloud and computing capacity available to startups.

The infrastructure push is significant because AI businesses require increasingly large amounts of data, computing power and high-speed connectivity.

Nigeria is also attempting to balance its push for local technology development with the need to attract global technology companies and capital.

Abdullahi rejected protectionism and invited international technology companies to invest and build in Nigeria, while challenging Nigerian innovators to view Africa as their ultimate addressable market.

“Building in Nigeria does not mean you are limiting yourself to Nigerian market, but positioning yourself for the African market,” he said.

He urged entrepreneurs to develop products that address immediate Nigerian challenges while designing them from the beginning for international expansion. “Build to solve our immediate problems in Nigeria, but with the intention of scaling to Africa and to the world,” he added.

That approach could prove decisive for Nigeria’s startup ecosystem. The country’s large population offers startups an important domestic testing ground, but its economic constraints mean that companies seeking venture-scale growth may eventually need to generate revenue across multiple African markets and beyond.

While commending the state’s success in consolidating its position as Nigeria’s leading tech and startup hub, Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor of Lagos state, stated: “GITEX NIGERIA is here because Lagos is consequential. What happens in this city sets the direction for a continent of around 1.4 billion people. That is exactly why the conversation about Africa’s future economy belongs here in Lagos. The ambition of the Lagos State Government is very clear: we want Lagos recognised not only as Nigeria’s commercial capital, but as Africa’s innovation capital. A position like that cannot be declared; it has to be earned through infrastructure, talent, policy, and execution.”

Highlighting the importance of building interoperable digital infrastructure that connects African innovation with commercial opportunities across the continent, Wamkele Mene, secretary-general, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, stated: “Africa should not simply import digital infrastructure systems developed for other countries outside of the continent. We possess the talent, innovation, and technical expertise required to shape our own digital transformation and ensure that it serves our integration and development objectives. We must act now; we can connect Africa’s innovation to a single digital continental market in which the African private sector can operate, transact, and expand across borders, converting digital innovation into commercially meaningful trade.”

The inauguration also highlighted President Tinubu’s signing of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2026 in June, replacing the 2007 legislation with a modern framework for secure and inclusive digital identity. Reinforcing the National Identification Number (NIN) as Nigeria’s primary identity credential, the Act aims to strengthen interoperability, data protection, cybersecurity, and access to public and private-sector services.

Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director-general and CEO of the National Identity Management Commission, stressed the indispensable value of digital trust, stating: “Connection without trust breeds vulnerability. When trust is embedded into the framework, onboarding becomes effortless, paperwork vanishes, and cross-border trade accelerates. The African Continental Free Trade Area promises the world’s largest integrated market, but trade today goes through digital channels. Contracts must be signed, credentials verified, and payments authenticated seamlessly across jurisdictions. The Federal Government recognises that digital identity, public key infrastructure (PKI)-based trust, and digital public infrastructure are inseparable parts of a single ecosystem.”

The arrival of more than 200 investors managing over $200 billion in assets gives Nigerian startups an unusually large pool of potential capital and partnerships to tap.

But international interest does not automatically translate into investment. Investors will ultimately look for companies with strong business models, defensible technology, capable management teams, recurring revenues and evidence that products can scale beyond Nigeria.

Read also: GITEX Nigeria: FG targets $1trn digital economy boost as tech giants converge in Abuja, Lagos

That makes the GITEX opportunity a test of the maturity of Nigeria’s technology ecosystem. The country has spent years building its reputation as one of Africa’s leading startup markets. The next phase is to prove that its technology companies can evolve from promising local ventures into globally competitive businesses.

For GITEX, the objective is therefore not simply to bring the world to Lagos for a few days. LohMirmand called for collaboration among government, investors, technology companies and the private sector to continue throughout the year through partnerships supporting policymaking, education, startup development and technology exports.

For Nigeria, that could be the more important outcome. If the connections created at GITEX translate into investment, international customers, technology partnerships and exports, the event could help shift the country’s technology narrative from one centred on startup creation to one focused on global scale.

Nigeria now has the talent, ambition and increasingly the infrastructure strategy. The question is whether it can turn them into technology companies capable of competing and winning in global markets.