Nigeria Uses AI to Turn Youth Ideas Into Policy

Africa’s most populous country will let software sort what its young people tell the government. The test is whether the summaries lead to policy.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, will use artificial intelligence (AI) to sort ideas from its first National Youth Conference. The state IT agency says the system will turn contributions into themes for policymakers.

The conference opened in Abuja, the capital, on Friday 2 October. About 360 young delegates from the country’s six regions are taking part, with others joining online from home and abroad.

What the AI is meant to do

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigeria’s IT regulator, will run the technology with the relevant ministry. Its director-general, Kashifu Inuwa, set out the plan at the opening ceremony.

Digital platforms will capture what participants say. AI will then analyse the submissions and group them into thematic areas for a committee to assess.

Inuwa said X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok already give young Nigerians a loud voice. But he argued the sheer volume makes genuine policy ideas hard to separate from misinformation.

The conference, he said, would help the government “filter the noise”. He pledged that NITDA would support the process “end to end” and keep it open and transparent, Nairametrics reported.

Who takes part, and how

Organisers want participants from all 360 federal constituencies, the districts that each elect a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives. The diaspora is also included.

Nigeria is grouped into six geopolitical zones, informal regions used for planning and power-sharing. Each zone is due to hold virtual sessions from Monday 5 to Saturday 17 October.

The youth ministry said earlier that the online consultation is open to Nigerians aged 18 to 35. Remote access is meant to include people who cannot travel to Abuja.

The agenda covers six areas. They are governance, jobs and entrepreneurship, climate and energy, education and skills, technology, and security and social cohesion.

What the government has promised

Tinubu first announced a 30-day youth conference in his Independence Day broadcast on 1 October 2024. He said young people make up more than 60% of Nigeria’s population.

In a statement for the opening, he urged participants to speak freely. “Where you disagree with us, say so, and bring the alternative with you,” he said, according to Platform Times.

Youth Development Minister Ayodele Olawande said programmes for rural youths could not be designed in Abuja without listening first. He conceded the government might not solve every problem quickly.

Recommendations are expected to go to the president and relevant agencies. Tinubu promised to give them “the serious consideration they deserve”.

Part of a wider AI push

The plan fits Nigeria’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, published by NITDA’s AI research centre in September 2025. It calls for high-performance computing and deep-tech AI accelerators across the country.

The strategy also proposes a fund for AI research and development. It ties skills goals to the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme, a government digital-skills training scheme.

A national youth consultation is a visible, low-cost trial of those ambitions. It is also a test of whether AI summaries can be trusted in politics.

What it means for foreigners

For young Nigerians living in the US, UK or Europe, the virtual sessions offer a formal channel to the government. Details of access come from the youth ministry and NITDA.

For investors and tech firms, the event signals official interest in AI for public administration. No contracts, budget or foreign technology partners have been announced for this project.

What is still unclear

NITDA has not named the AI tools it will use or who built them. It has not said how participants’ personal data will be stored, although the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023 applies.

It is also unclear how the committee will check the AI’s summaries against what people actually said. Regional differences could be flattened if the themes are too broad.

No date has been set for the committee’s final proposals. Whether they change policy will be the real measure of the exercise.

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