The Nigeria Religious Coalition on Artificial Intelligence wants the Nigerian government to thread with care and safeguard African culture, values in its push for adopting Artificial Intelligence in different strata.
The coalition, made up of the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), Institute of Church and Society Ibadan and the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) made the call at the media unveiling of the report Godin the Engine in Lagos on Wednesday 22 October 2025.
Very Reverend Kolade Fadahunsi the Director of the Institute of Church and Society, Ibadan while opening the event said that AI has come to stay in Africa and the rest of the world but its deployment especially in Africa should be done with caution so that it does not erode religion. He referenced some recent virtual content that made mockery of some Bible passages as an example of how the AI technology could be misused to draw adherents of the different faiths from belief in their sacred books and religion.
Kolade said that in adopting the AI technology, Nigeria and Africa must resist being used as a dumping ground or used as guinea pigs but must instead strive to be co-creators of the messages and content that are fed into computers and other systems targeted at consumers.
He stressed that as AI races forward, companies are increasingly creating general-purpose AI systems that can perform many different tasks. Large language models (LLMs) can compose poetry, create dinner recipes and write computer code. Some of these models already pose major risks, such as the erosion of democratic processes, rampant bias and misinformation, and an arms race in autonomous weapons. He also predicted that there is worse to come.
In his intervention, Imam Yusuf Bida, the Administrative Secretary of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), stated that AI should be used with care since it eases work and makes the process easy but could offer ungodly solutions to contemporary issues.
Bida who represented Imam Prof Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, Secretary General of JNI, stressed that AI should be well deployed in usage and guided with ethics., a position which reflects what the Quran would advocate for.
He also revealed that the recent report that Nigeria is the highest user of X formerly twitter on the African continent is not worth celebrating as it exposed Nigeria as a country with lax regulation where anything goes.
The scholar argued that most countries that regulate do it from the standpoint of protecting their values and culture from erosion associated with external especially western ideas.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Evans Onyemara General Secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria also echoed the same sentiment, insisting that the western world feels Africa is a dumping ground for experimentation and does not care if the ideas they push to the continent are of benefit or detriment to its people.
Dr. Onyemara told the gathering that the same argument informed the decision of the Future of Life Institute to partner with the Christian Council of Nigeria to examine AI and the need for the church in Africa to sit back and make a valid appraisal on what AI would bring to Nigeria and the continent at
large.
Imam Suleiman Njoku, Chief Imam of Imo State pointed out that every human being whether man or woman has a natural animalistic tendency in him or her to do what suits them in order to gain instant gratification, but religion has helped to mitigate and regulate that trait. Linking this to AI, he maintained that such animalistic tendencies and ideas inform what some scientists incorporate in their innovations.
On his part, most Rev Sunday Matilukuro,primate of the First Africa church mission, who represented the CCN President,Most Rev Onuoha pointed out the dangers of unregulated AI to the young.
He called on the Nigerian government to put in place protections to prevent them from assimilating errors that may have long term fatal consequences.
The event was attended by a host of other organisations including the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) and the media.
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
