Nigeria ranked 72nd in 2025 Global government AI Readiness Index

Nigeria has been ranked 72nd out of 188 countries in the 2025 Government AI Readiness Index, placing it among the top-performing nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The index, published by Oxford Insights, assessed 195 governments across 69 indicators grouped under policy capacity, governance, AI infrastructure, public sector adoption, development and diffusion, and resilience. The rankings measure how prepared governments are to deploy artificial intelligence in public service delivery. Nigeria was ranked fourth within Sub-Saharan Africa, behind Kenya in 65th place, South Africa in 67th and Mauritius in 71st. In total, ten African countries appeared in the global top 100. Oxford Insights described Nigeria as amongst the highest ranking countries globally from the continent, noting that recent policy moves and investment in the domestic AI sector are beginning to yield results. The report also highlighted Nigerias stronger performance in specific pillars, ranking 35th globally in policy capacity and 49th in development and diffusion. According to the report, those scores reflect a growing AI ecosystem, a larger talent pool and efforts to move beyond strategy into implementation. Nigerias launch of the Nigeria AI Scaling Hub was cited as evidence of attempts to operationalise AI within government systems. Despite its relatively high placement within Africa, the report pointed to constraints common across the region, including AI infrastructure gaps, limited public sector adoption and deficiencies in foundational digital and energy systems. Sub-Saharan Africa ranked last among nine global regions in the index, with an average score of 28.04, indicating that while Nigeria compares favourably to its peers, broader structural challenges persist. Nigerias AI agenda has also received renewed political backing. During the 50th Convocation Ceremony of the University of Jos on January 7, 2026, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani announced the creation of a National AI Centre of Excellence located on the university campus. Tijani said the initiative signalled a determination that Nigeria should not remain a passive consumer of artificial intelligence technologies or a rule-taker in emerging global AI governance frameworks. He added that AI is built on numbers, and Nigeria has the numbers, noting that domestic universities must lead research on locally relevant datasets and contextual intelligence rather than relying solely on foreign-trained models. The report presents Nigeria as a country with clear AI ambition but uneven execution, with policy advances outpacing adoption in government services. As more African states formulate AI policies and innovation hubs, future rankings will depend on how effectively Nigeria translates strategy into practical deployment.The post Nigeria ranked 72nd in 2025 Global government AI Readiness Index appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.