ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PUBLIC SECTOR TRANSFORMATION IN NIGERIA:

Abstract

The possibilities of using AI to change the way the public sector works and improve the services it provides are a phenomenon that continues to be investigated by governments globally (Wirtz et al., 2019). AI offers transformative opportunities in Nigeria, a country with long-standing governance issues of inefficiency and bureaucracy that are stifling development. This paper presents an extensive analysis, which will include policy document analysis, as well as a case study analysis of pilot projects for AI in agencies in Nigeria. The findings shall shed more light on how AI can deliver measurable gains, from automatically processing citizen applications to predicting resource allocation and fraud in public expenditure. But we project that critical risks may arise: algorithmic bias can perpetuate discrimination norms; opaque AI decision-making can diminish accountability and citizen trust; public AI systems are potentially vulnerable to data breaches and cyberattacks; and AI usage can create a greater digital divide if it is not accompanied by an investment in digital literacy (Sun & Medaglia, 2019). The outcome of this paper calls for the establishment of a complete governance system, including ethical guidelines, algorithmic impact assessments, public procurement standards for AI and institutional capacity development in the field of regulation and oversight (Floridi et al., 2018). The study aims to add to the comparative AI governance literature by analysing the Nigerian context and how it differs from emerging international governance frameworks, thereby shedding light on the unique challenges of developing democratic AI governance systems.