AI specialist Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji urges African universities to become AI innovators

Dr. Toyosi Akerele‑Ogunsiji, founder of Rise Networks and a leading AI‑governance expert, delivered the 2026 Annual Lecture of the School of Computing at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in Nigeria. She called on national and sub‑national governments to channel more funding into universities and to equip lecturers with tools and knowledge so that African institutions move from merely using artificial intelligence to creating it.

Akere‑Ogunsiji argued that AI will not replace universities but transform them, stressing that “the person who knows how to use AI will take the job, not AI itself.” She advocated making AI literacy compulsory across all degree programmes, urging that every graduate—lawyer, doctor, accountant or engineer—should understand core AI concepts. The speaker also highlighted the need for stronger collaboration between academia, industry and government to develop home‑grown AI solutions that address local challenges in education, health, business, security and infrastructure.

The conference also featured Dr. Opeyemi Dele Ajayi of Northumbria University (UK), who discussed AI and big‑data applications for resilient national infrastructure, reinforcing the broader message of building capacity and innovation within Africa.