Africa’s Digital Future: Bosun Tijani, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Shola Akinlade discuss AI, trade, and fintech boom at UNGA 80
Three Nigerian leaders delivered compelling visions for Africa’s economic transformation that captured the attention of global investors, policymakers, and tech innovators at Semafor‘s Next 3 Billion Summit on the sidelines of UNGA 80 at The Pierre in New York City on September 24, 2025
Dr Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy; Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation; and Shola Akinlade, CEO of Paystack, used the platform to articulate both the urgent challenges and extraordinary opportunities facing the continent as it navigates the global shift toward digital economies and artificial intelligence.
Tijani’s Wake-Up Call: Africa’s AI Infrastructure Crisis
Bosun Tijani delivered perhaps the summit’s most sobering assessment, warning that Africa is not receiving adequate infrastructure investment despite being home to the world’s future workforce. Within 20 years, the majority of the world’s youth population will be concentrated on the continent. Yet, the level of investment in AI and digital infrastructure remains insufficient for the continent to compete globally.
The minister used a stark agricultural comparison to illustrate the competitive disadvantage African countries face. Brazilian farms utilising artificial intelligence and enhanced connectivity are achieving 10 to 12 tonnes of maize per hectare, while Nigeria averages just 2.5 tonnes per hectare. South Africa, the continent’s best performer in this metric, still only manages 4 to 6 tonnes per hectare.
“The implication of that is countries like Nigeria will not be able to justify why they shouldn’t be importing maize from Brazil,” Tijani warned. “And we know that if we have to keep importing all of our food from countries like Brazil, then there’s not going to be job opportunities for young people in Africa.”
These productivity gaps aren’t due to genetically modified organisms, Tijani emphasised, but rather the strategic application of artificial intelligence and connectivity infrastructure that nations on the continent have yet to deploy at scale.
Tijani’s comments came amid reports of major data centre deals in Africa facing challenges, including projects involving G42 and Microsoft in Kenya that have reportedly stalled. However, the minister maintained that the fundamental issue isn’t declining investor interest but rather insufficient articulation of AI’s impact on national competitiveness.
He referenced World Bank data suggesting that improving connectivity levels in any economy by 10% typically results in approximately 2.5% GDP growth for African countries, questioning whether similar metrics have been effectively communicated regarding AI infrastructure investment.
The minister noted that countries like China and Singapore, which invested in AI infrastructure years ago, are already reaping massive benefits. China uses AI for urban street management, while Singapore has integrated AI across multiple sectors. “So we have a short window to accelerate the deepening of the absorptive capacity in countries like mine and the rest of Africa so that we can use AI effectively,” he stated.
Okonjo-Iweala: The Trading System’s Resilience and Africa’s Untapped Potential
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman to lead the World Trade Organisation, provided a nuanced analysis of how global trade disruptions—particularly US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime—have impacted the multilateral trading system while highlighting opportunities for intra-African commerce.
The WTO chief revealed that while US unilateral tariff actions have knocked the global trading system, approximately 72% of world trade still operates under WTO terms, down from 80% before the tariff implementations. She described this as the biggest disruption in global trade in 80 years, yet emphasised the system’s strong resilience at the core.
“The trading system has been knocked, it’s been battered, but it is showing very strong resilience,” Okonjo-Iweala stated, describing the current situation as having “a stable core of the trading system existing in an unstable equilibrium.”
However, her most pointed critique focused on African trade inefficiencies. She used Lesotho’s textile industry as a striking example: the southern African nation exports approximately $200 million worth of textiles—about 10% of its GDP—to the United States while Africa collectively imports $7 billion of similar textiles annually.
“Why should Lesotho sell $200 million of textiles to the US and be worrying about reciprocal tariffs when Africa spends about $7 billion importing textiles, some of the same textiles they’re producing in Lesotho?” she questioned. “Why can’t they sell it to the rest of the continent?”
The concern is particularly acute given potential reciprocal tariffs on Lesotho, which could cost the country almost half a percentage point of GDP growth—devastating for a least-developed country that imports only about $3 million worth of goods from the US.
Okonjo-Iweala emphasised that African policymakers must urgently address logistical and payment infrastructure issues that make cross-border trade prohibitively expensive. The continent contributes only 3% to global trade, and intra-African trade remains between 16% and 20%—significantly lower than other regions.
Beyond current trade challenges, she issued an urgent warning about technological adaptation. “We have AI. We have changes in technology that are very fast paced. If the system doesn’t reform to take account of this, then we will be left behind. That’s what bothers me more than any other thing,” she stated, adding: “There’s a sense of urgency and the time to do the reforms is now.”
Akinlade: From 2% to Global Digital Commerce Player
Shola Akinlade, co-founder and CEO of Paystack, provided the summit with concrete evidence of Africa’s digital payments revolution while outlining the massive untapped potential that remains.
Akinlade revealed that Paystack has grown more than 10 times since Stripe acquired the company for over $200 million in 2020, with the most striking metric being that Paystack now processes more than 50 times what Nigeria’s entire online economy handled in 2016.
“In 10 years, we’re doing more than 50 times what the country was doing, and we’re just scratching the surface,” Akinlade stated, capturing both the dramatic progress and the enormous opportunity that remains.
The Paystack CEO explained that the continent’s position in global digital commerce reveals the scale of untapped potential: the continent accounts for 17% of the world’s population but represents only 2% of global digital commerce. “There’s just a lot of space,” he said simply, suggesting that this disparity creates significant room for expansion.
Akinlade highlighted two key growth strategies driving Paystack’s expansion: “powering people building for Africa” and “connecting Africa with the rest of the world.” The company processed more transactions on Black Friday 2023 than all previous Black Fridays combined since the company’s 2015 founding.
“You cannot power people building for Africa and not grow,” Akinlade stated, emphasising that supporting African entrepreneurial ambition naturally drives business expansion.
Looking forward, Akinlade expressed particular excitement about stablecoins and cross-border payment innovations. He described stablecoins as “programmable money” that can facilitate transactions across all 42 African currencies in seconds, replacing the 50-year-old SWIFT system that currently dominates international payments.
“Africa has so many lines, so many bars, and I feel like the future of the present is to start raising those lines,” he explained, envisioning seamless trade across 50 countries serving 1.5 billion people, similar to how US consumers don’t know whether Amazon shipments originate from different states or countries.
Convergence of Challenges and Opportunities
The presentations by these three Nigerian leaders at the Next 3 Billion summit revealed interconnected challenges that require coordinated solutions across technology infrastructure, trade policy, and financial innovation.
Tijani’s warnings about AI infrastructure gaps directly relate to Okonjo-Iweala’s concerns about African agricultural productivity and trade competitiveness. Without adequate technology infrastructure, African countries risk becoming permanent importers of both food and finished goods from countries that have embraced AI and automation.
Similarly, Akinlade’s success with Paystack demonstrates that when the right infrastructure exists, African entrepreneurs can build world-class companies that serve continental and global markets. However, his observations about cross-border payment challenges align with Okonjo-Iweala’s critique of intra-African trade barriers.
The summit also featured other prominent African voices, including Flutterwave CEO GB Agboola, who confirmed partnerships with American Express to help merchants access diverse payment options globally; MTN Chairman Mcebisi Jonas, who emphasized the need for policy uniformity across Africa to reduce the digital usage gap; and Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala, who challenged credit rating agencies to eliminate biases against African markets.
The Bigger Picture
The Nigerian leaders’ collective message at the Next 3 Billion summit was clear: Africa possesses enormous demographic and economic potential, but realising this requires immediate action on multiple fronts.
For Tijani, this means accelerating investment in AI infrastructure and building “absorptive capacity”—the ability to effectively utilise AI for essential economic activities while participating in AI development and innovation. The narrow window for African countries to catch up is closing rapidly as other regions advance.
For Okonjo-Iweala, urgent priorities include implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area more effectively, streamlining customs procedures, improving logistics networks, and creating efficient payment systems that make intra-African trade as seamless as domestic commerce.
For Akinlade, the focus remains on continuing to build infrastructure that enables African businesses to compete globally while facilitating cross-border commerce within the continent through innovations like stablecoins and integrated payment systems.
The convergence of these three Nigerian leaders at a major international summit—representing government policy, multilateral institutions, and private sector innovation—signals both the challenges and the collaborative approaches needed to unlock Africa’s next phase of economic development.
As the global economy becomes increasingly digital and AI-driven, their collective warning is that Africa cannot afford to miss this transformation. The continent that will house the majority of the world’s youth within two decades must ensure those young people have access to the infrastructure, opportunities, and integrated markets that will allow them to compete and thrive in the global economy.
