Nigeria leads Africa in AI surveillance spending with $470M investment

Nigeria has become the largest investor in artificial intelligence-powered surveillance in Africa, spending over $470 million of the $2.1 billion reportedly spent across 11 countries on the continent.

This is according to a March 2026 report by the Institute of Development Studies titled “Smart City Surveillance in Africa: Mapping Chinese AI Surveillance Across 11 Countries.”

The report highlighted Nigeria’s focus on AI-enabled facial recognition and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technologies. Despite this scale of investment, there is limited evidence that these systems have effectively reduced crime.

Key findings

• Top spenders: Nigeria leads with $470 million for 10,000 smart cameras, followed by Mauritius ($456 million, 4,143 cameras) and Kenya ($219 million, 2,000 cameras).
• Suppliers: Most surveillance infrastructure comes from Chinese tech companies, financed largely via soft loans. Other contributors include South Korea, Russia, the UAE, the USA, Israel, France, Spain, Iran, and Japan.
• Effectiveness: The study found little proof that digital surveillance has significantly improved crime prevention, prosecutions, or reduced terrorism.
• Legal gaps: No country studied has a comprehensive legal framework to balance surveillance with human rights. The report recommends prior court warrants, independent oversight bodies, and transparency reporting to ensure accountability.

Public concerns

Despite investments like NIN-SIM linkage for identity verification, Nigerians have questioned why such tools have not led to better enforcement against kidnappings and attacks. Former presidential candidate Peter Obi criticized the government for failing to leverage technology to combat rising insecurity.

According to the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, criminals evade detection by using unconventional technologies outside standard telecom networks.

The report calls for stronger regulation, legal safeguards, and oversight to ensure that surveillance investments benefit public safety without infringing on citizens’ rights.

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