GITEX Nigeria 2026 Opens in Abuja, Unites Gov’t, Global Tech Leaders to Advance AI Ambitions
By Abbas Badmus,
The second edition of GITEX Nigeria, West Africa’s largest technology, artificial intelligence and startup event, officially opened in Abuja on Monday, bringing together senior government officials, global technology leaders, investors and other digital economy stakeholders.
Held from August 31 to September 3 across Abuja and Lagos, the four-day event is focused on accelerating Nigeria’s digital transformation, strengthening local technology capabilities and positioning Africa as a stronger player in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem.
The event is being held under the patronage of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and supported by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). It is endorsed by the Lagos State Government and organised by KAOUN International, the global organiser of GITEX events.
The opening ceremony was followed by the Abuja Government Leadership & AI Summit, which attracted more than 500 public- and private-sector leaders and investors from Nigeria, Africa and other parts of the world.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said Nigeria was laying the foundations for technology-led growth through investments in technical talent, digital infrastructure, cloud computing and responsible artificial intelligence.
Inuwa highlighted initiatives including the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL), the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme and Project BRIDGE, saying they were helping to expand Nigeria’s technical talent pool and improve digital inclusion.
He said Nigeria was also developing the policy, cloud infrastructure and regulatory frameworks required to host more data locally, deploy AI responsibly and improve national productivity.
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