By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s defence of government borrowing, declaring that debt is worse than leprosy because of its devastating consequences for present and future generations.
Obasanjo also warned Nigeria and other African countries against allowing foreign interests to dominate artificial intelligence, AI, saying the emerging technology could become another instrument of exploitation and digital colonialism if the continent failed to develop its own technological capacity.
The former president spoke on Friday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, at the Ajibosin Platform, a public forum themed, “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Solve Grassroots Problems and Accelerate National Development”.
Reacting to Tinubu’s earlier assertion that borrowing was not leprosy, Obasanjo argued that the accumulation of public debt could mortgage the country’s future and impose an unbearable burden on generations yet unborn.
“And for anybody to say debt is no leprosy, is absolute nonsense. Debt is worse than leprosy because leprosy destroys only one person. Debt destroys generations,” he declared.
Tinubu had defended his administration’s borrowing policy in April, insisting that borrowing was not inherently wrong if the country had the capacity to repay.
“If we have to borrow, we borrow. Borrowing is not leprosy; we just have to work hard to be able to pay for it,” the President had said during a meeting with Plateau State leaders, led by Governor Caleb Mutfwang and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, at the State House.
The President’s position came amid concerns over Nigeria’s rising debt profile and the increasing proportion of government revenue committed to debt servicing.
Obasanjo also questioned Nigeria’s economic performance over the years, particularly the depreciation of the naira against the United States dollar.
Recounting his experience as a farmer, he said the naira was stronger than the dollar when he established his farm 47 years ago.
“When I started my farm, 47 years ago, naira to the dollar was one naira to $1.85. Forty-seven years ago. What has Nigeria done in 47 years that we now have 1,500 naira to a dollar? What have we done?” he asked.
He challenged the country’s political leadership to demonstrate its understanding of Nigeria’s problems and identify practical solutions to the challenges confronting the nation.
“What do our leaders know? And what do they not know? And from what they know, what can they do for us?” he queried.
The former president also faulted Nigeria’s dependence on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), arguing that their economic prescriptions were not necessarily designed to address the country’s peculiar circumstances.
“World Bank and IMF were not designed for us. They were not built by us. They were built before we became independent. And that’s the people who would determine what we do,” he said.
He urged Nigerian leaders to scrutinise foreign economic prescriptions and ensure that national policies reflected the country’s interests and development priorities.
Turning to artificial intelligence, Obasanjo warned that Africa risked repeating the mistakes of its colonial past if it allowed foreign interests to control the technology and its applications.
Although he acknowledged that he was not technically knowledgeable about AI, he said ownership and control were critical to ensuring that the technology served African interests.
“I don’t know too much technically about AI, but I know that anything that is not under your control can be abused against you. And you can see that this has already started,” he said.
Drawing parallels between AI and Africa’s historical experiences with slavery, colonialism and economic dependency, Obasanjo urged African leaders to approach the technological revolution with caution.
He also questioned the concept of technology transfer, asking African countries to examine the terms and benefits of their engagements with foreign technology providers.
“But what exactly is technology transfer? Who transferred technology to them, and what did they pay for it?” he queried.
Obasanjo further criticised what he described as unequal international economic arrangements, citing restrictions on agricultural subsidies for developing countries despite continued support for farmers in developed economies.
He expressed concern over the estimated 24 million Nigerian children out of school, warning that the situation could create serious challenges for future generations.
“We have 24 million Nigerian children who should be in school but are not. If you are looking for the disasters of tomorrow, these children represent one of them,” he said.
He challenged policymakers and technology stakeholders to explore how AI could improve access to education and address learning challenges.
On agriculture, Obasanjo advocated the deployment of artificial intelligence to help farmers identify suitable crops, improve productivity and strengthen food and nutrition security.
Also speaking at the event, guest speaker and historian, Dr Umar Ardo, warned that Africa could be entering another phase of economic exploitation through artificial intelligence if it failed to secure ownership and control of its data, technological infrastructure and intellectual resources.
In a presentation titled, “From Slave Ships to Server Farms: Artificial Intelligence and Africa’s Unbroken History of Extraction”, Ardo argued that although AI offered significant opportunities for economic transformation, it could deepen existing inequalities if African countries remained dependent on foreign technology companies.
He said the continent must move beyond adopting foreign innovations and address fundamental questions surrounding ownership, control, regulation and the distribution of economic benefits.
“AI offers Africa important opportunities, but without ownership, safeguards and public purpose, it could extend a long history in which Africa supplies value while others control and capture it,” he said.
Tracing Africa’s economic history over five centuries, Ardo identified the transatlantic slave trade, colonial exploitation of natural resources and post-independence economic dependency as major phases of external extraction.
He explained that while the slave trade commodified African lives, colonialism focused largely on exploiting mineral and agricultural resources, while many post-independence economies remained dependent on exporting raw materials and importing finished products.
According to him, infrastructure and technologies introduced during colonial rule, including railways, steam engines and administrative systems, were largely organised around extracting African resources and transporting them to foreign markets.
“We supplied resources and labour; others controlled the machinery and captured much of the value,” he stated.
Ardo also identified the migration of highly trained African professionals, including doctors, nurses, engineers and scientists, to foreign countries as another dimension of the continent’s continuing resource losses.
He warned that data could become the next major commodity in Africa’s history of external extraction, noting that information generated by citizens, hospitals, farmers, businesses, indigenous communities and public institutions was increasingly valuable to the global digital economy.
“Data may become the fourth commodity in this long history of extraction,” he cautioned.
The historian expressed concern that the infrastructure for processing information, developing AI models and generating intellectual property and commercial profits remained disproportionately controlled outside Africa.
He questioned who benefited when farmers’ agricultural practices, patients’ medical records, indigenous languages, traditional medicine and cultural knowledge were incorporated into AI systems developed by foreign companies.
“When farmers’ planting patterns are recorded, who controls that knowledge; the farmer or the platform?” he asked.
Ardo canvasses local AI development, data sovereignty
To prevent artificial intelligence from becoming another instrument of economic dependency, Ardo proposed a framework anchored on technological sovereignty, data protection, indigenous innovation, grassroots development and continental cooperation.
He called for stronger legal and institutional safeguards against the uncontrolled exploitation of personal data and traditional knowledge.
While acknowledging the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 as an important step towards protecting citizens’ information, he said privacy protection alone was insufficient to guarantee data sovereignty.
He advocated additional mechanisms to protect community knowledge, ensure fair compensation and guarantee Africans a reasonable share of the commercial value generated from their data and intellectual resources.
Ardo urged the Federal Government to increase investment in domestic computing capacity, reliable energy infrastructure, semiconductor technology, research institutions and indigenous AI development.
He maintained that Nigeria, with a population exceeding 230 million, should not remain merely a consumer market for foreign technology.
“A country of over 230 million people should be more than a market for foreign technology,” he declared.
He also called for the development of locally controlled datasets and AI models capable of understanding African languages, agricultural practices, medicinal traditions and customary knowledge under African ownership and appropriate safeguards.
On grassroots development, Ardo urged governments to ensure that communities benefited directly from AI applications in primary healthcare, agricultural extension services, local government administration, revenue collection, conflict resolution and disaster management.
He further advocated comprehensive AI training programmes in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to develop software developers, technicians, data stewards and other professionals.
On continental cooperation, he urged Nigeria to work with other African countries to harmonise data governance regulations, develop shared technological infrastructure and strengthen the continent’s bargaining power in engagements with international technology companies.
He identified the African Union’s Data Policy Framework, adopted in 2022, as an important foundation for coordinated continental action.
Warning that digital extraction could be more difficult to identify and resist than the exploitation of physical resources, Ardo said information could cross national borders without the knowledge or meaningful understanding of the people and communities generating it.
“One of the most efficient systems of extraction is the one its subjects volunteer to use,” he warned.
He urged African leaders to approach the AI revolution with a clear understanding of the continent’s history, insisting that Africa must become a builder, owner and rule-maker in the global technology ecosystem rather than remain a passive consumer of foreign innovations.
Drawing a comparison between Africa’s historical experiences and the emerging digital economy, he said: “Five centuries ago, they came for our bodies. Then they came for our land and its riches. Then our commodities and trained minds. Today, they come for our data.”
He, however, maintained that Africa still had the opportunity to determine its technological future.
“The choice is ours. Artificial intelligence can become another instrument through which Africa is managed, or an instrument through which Africa begins to manage its own destiny,” he added.
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