AI is not a side issue; it is an economic governance challenge that will determine who captures value, who holds power, and whose interests technology ultimately serves for decades to come.
Africa stands at a critical crossroads in the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) economy. If the continent fails to act with conviction, it risks repeating a familiar, extractive pattern: being positioned as a consumer and a supplier of raw data while global powers and major corporations consolidate control over the algorithms and infrastructure that shape the future.
This is not a theoretical debate. AI is not a side issue; it is an economic governance challenge that will determine who captures value, who holds power, and whose interests technology ultimately serves for decades to come.
As the world debates ethical AI frameworks and the deployment of new models, Africa must insist that its central value, digital sovereignty, is included in the discussion. We must stop being the world’s digital quarry.
At the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2025) in Abuja, Nigeria, scholars and policymakers held a workshop titled “Beyond AI Consumption: Digital Governance Politics and Management in the Global South,”sponsored by the Artificial Intelligence for Development (AI4D) programme in Africa. They debated the question: “Will the Global South simply consume – and be consumed – in this new AI order, or can it chart an alternative path toward agency and digital sovereignty?”
It became clear that there is an urgency for action when examining the three central pillars of the AI revolution:
Data Drain: Africa is data-poor, not from a lack of information, but because most information generated on the continent is captured, processed, and stored elsewhere. This data fails to return in the form of value back to the continent, severely constraining local innovation and policy-making.
Low-Value Economics: Despite a vast population and growing tech talent, Africa holds a low-value position in the AI economy. The continent contributes only about 1 to 1.5 per cent of global AI investment. We supply the raw data that trains global models and the
natural resources that fuel AI infrastructure, yet we fail to beneficiate (refine) that digital resource locally.
Rule-Taker Politics: The global governance of AI, from standards to safety frameworks, is dominated by Northern powers and corporate platforms. Without robust representation in these processes, Africa is forced to be a rule-taker in an economy projected to add a monumental $15.7 trillion to global GDP by 2030. This is fundamentally a power question.
To secure our future, Africa needs a strategic pivot—a move from extraction to agency. This shift must be understood through a powerful domestic lens: the story of Aliko Dangote’s refinery.
After decades of dependency, exporting crude oil only to import refined fuel, the refinery symbolised what it took for one African enterprise to finally process its own resources. Digital data is the new oil. Africa cannot afford to export its raw data only to purchase back sophisticated, foreign-developed AI services. Building our own digital capacity and independence requires the same time, capital, and conviction that went into building that refinery.
This means treating public and private investment in AI infrastructure—from data centres to research ecosystems—as a strategic industrial policy, comparable in nation-building importance to energy or transport.
A strategic pathway to sovereignty
Policymakers and business leaders must immediately commit to these seven strategic actions, which emerged as key lessons for Africa and the wider Global South during the ICEGOV workshop:
1. Reframe it as power: Understand that control of data, digital infrastructure and AI narratives is what determines value capture.
2. Invest in Fundamentals: Build the infrastructure, robust data ecosystems, foundational models and skills pipelines needed for true digital sovereignty. Public access and benefit must remain central.
3. Leverage Our Strengths: Shape AI using Africa’s unique assets: indigenous knowledge systems, cultural diversity, and frugal innovation.
4. Engage strategically: Make context-aware bets that build domestic capability, not dependence, as new AI value chains form.
5. Choose Partners Wisely: Structure collaborations around technology transfer, open standards, and shared intellectual property to advance equity and sovereignty, not
replicate extractive patterns.
6. Shape Governance: Demand Africa’s representation in global forums writing AI rules now, to ensure our regulatory values are reflected in international standards.
7. Lead with Courage: Sovereignty is not granted; it is built through consistent investment, imagination, and persistence.
The question for Africa is no longer whether to participate, but how; and on whose terms. By committing to this path with determination, the continent can transition from being a passive beneficiary to an active, equal rule-setter in the global AI economy.
This is not just a moral imperative; it is an economic necessity for a sustainable digital future.
The workshop concluded that the Global South’s position on digital governance should be articulated and fed into UN and multilateral policy discussions. It is a modest but strategic move but it signals that Africa must engage globally not as a passive beneficiary, but as an active and equal rule-maker.
The authors are scholars from the Universities of Witwatersrand and Edinburgh studying digital governance, innovation and technology policy across the Global South. They co-convened the session “Beyond AI Consumption: Digital Governance Politics and Management in the Global South” at ICEGOV 2025 that was hosted by NITDA in Abuja.