Nigerian scientists have called for increased investment in locally generated health data and homegrown artificial intelligence (AI), warning that Africa risks being left behind if it continues to rely heavily on technologies and datasets developed outside the continent.

The experts said AI systems trained on African datasets were critical to producing accurate and relevant solutions to the continent’s public health challenges.

They spoke at the 4th Annual Scientific Symposium organised by the International Research Centre of Excellence (IRCE) of the Institute of Human Virology of Nigeria (IHVN) in Abuja, with the theme, “Shaping the Future of Public Health Research: Sustainable Funding, AI/ML and Innovation.”

An Associate Professor of Infectious Disease, Pathogen Genomics and Molecular Epidemiology at Adeleke University, Ede, Dr Oladipo Kolawole, said African countries must develop AI systems using local datasets to ensure that their applications reflected local populations.

Speaking on AI and whole-genome sequencing, Kolawole said the technology could accelerate the development of biologics, therapeutics and advanced diagnostics, while improving disease surveillance.

He said combining genomic sequencing with AI could help health authorities detect emerging threats earlier, identify transmission patterns and respond more rapidly to outbreaks.

“We need African AI that is developed using African datasets so that most of the results that we have from that AI will be tailored to the usage of African populations,” he said.

Kolawole, however, called for a national regulatory framework for AI in biological research, warning that advanced systems could be misused to generate harmful biological designs.

He said Nigeria needed clear safeguards, particularly in pathogen research, genetic data and biological design.

Renowned virologist and former Vice-Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, said AI could help government make faster, more informed and cost-effective decisions by analysing large volumes of data.

Tomori said its application should extend beyond laboratories and hospitals to areas such as infrastructure, clean water and transportation, whose performance directly affects public health.

Earlier, the Executive Director of IRCE and lecturer at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Prof. Alash’leAbimiku, said Africa’s research future depended on building sustainable research ecosystems rather than relying largely on external funding.

“Sustainable research ecosystems cannot rely solely on external support,” she said, urging African institutions to strengthen local capacity and ownership of research priorities.

Abimiku said AI and machine learning could strengthen disease surveillance, diagnosis, outbreak prediction and health-system efficiency, but stressed that they must be deployed ethically and should complement rather than replace human expertise.

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Temitope Ilori, called for increased domestic investment in health, stressing that Nigeria needed stronger capacity to generate and use reliable local health data.

Ilori said locally generated evidence was essential for understanding Nigeria’s health challenges and designing interventions that reflected the realities of its population.