By Ojoma Akor
Artificial Intelligence 4 Social Impact & Development (AI4SID), an initiative of the Africa Hub for Innovation and Development will host the AI for Social Good Summit in Abuja, Nigeria in May 2026.
Dr. Kunle Kakanfo, Chief Visionary (Influence & Strategy) at AI4SID disclosed this yesterday during a virtual workshop themed: “Artificial Intelligence for Social Good: Pilots, Partnerships, Policies & the People.”
The summit, a one-day global convening set to take place in Abuja, Nigeria, will bring together thought leaders, policymakers, innovators, and development practitioners to shape the global discourse on responsible, inclusive, and people-centered Artificial Intelligence.
The AI for Social Good Summit will serve as a platform for sharing ideas, showcasing innovations, and building partnerships to ensure AI delivers tangible social impact. It will feature keynote addresses, panel discussions, and case studies on how AI can advance equity, sustainability, and human development.
The Summit announcement comes as part of a broader set of programs by AI4SID designed to equip organizations and individuals to harness AI for impact. Ahead of the Summit, AI4SID will also roll out:
– A two-day physical training in Abuja (January 2026) focused on AI for Social and Strategic Impact, designed to strengthen NGO operations and improve efficiency.
-An Advanced AI Accelerator Program, which will transform fresh graduates into innovators by equipping them with technical expertise, mentorship, and opportunities to create AI-powered solutions for real-world challenges.
The official pre-announcement will be made during the AI4SID Virtual Workshop on October 9, 2025, themed: “Artificial Intelligence for Social Good: Pilots, Partnerships, Policies & the People.”
Dr. Kunle Kakanfo said, “These flagship initiatives together reflect AI4SID’s commitment to advancing AI not just as a tool of technology but as a catalyst for social progress.”
He said the future of Artificial Intelligence must not be measured only by technological milestones but by the social impact it creates.
“With the summit and related programs, AI4SID is demonstrating how AI can drive equity, innovation, and sustainable development across Africa and beyond,” he added.
Dr. Bayo Adekanmbi chief executive officer of Data Science Nigeria and Co-Founder of Equalizer AI, said what the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is expected to do, apart from being a facilitator and a regulator is to provide incentives.
He said some of those incentives are actually providing the environment for those who have ideas to come and test out their ideas.
He said, ” The truth about it is that a lot of the ideas that people have come up with have actually been a copy of what they have seen done somewhere else and taken out of context. And when you are doing your evaluation to determine what solution may work and what they move to the next stage of incubation, you will realize that some of those solutions are not designed in a manner that can be commercialized, even before we got so much into technology innovation.”
Dr Adekanmbi said the best method is to let your idea evolve. ” Don’t stick to that ABC idea you had at the beginning that you brought to this phase, because you’re going to be faced with circumstances that may turn your idea upside down, and it’s not exactly what you thought it was going to be at the end of the day.
” I think the society should be your priority in terms of considering your innovation. And then the innovation does not start at the commencement of your what should I call it, product development. Innovation should be a continuous process. You get to a point, you realize this doesn’t work. You have to be really innovative.”
The expert also highlighted that capacity building is very important.
“We met a lot of innovators who are not willing to learn. And usually at the end of the day, that doesn’t work very well. And then you also have to understand that the statistics are grim in terms of success rates. I think some time ago, somebody came up with an IT commercial bank that will provide loans to people to develop IT solutions. I believe that an innovator should not be saddled with debts; that person cannot innovate. At what point will you cash out of that depth we’ve seen what happens in terms of educational loans is still a big problem, even though there’s a guarantee in that aspect.”
He added that there should be some form of orientation to innovators to show them the challenges and the steps that they need to take in order to transform an idea to a solution which will help the society.
Speaking on AI in the pilot phase, Dr. Olawale Ogundeji of AI4SID said sometimes the challenges may not be with the idea but about government policy and others that affects the pilot.
Alex Tsado a global AI leader and founder of Alliance4AI, said there were challenges with the demand side for ideas that come from Africa.
He said, “So one of them is governments like government policy, and the environment. But I am even more interested in the private sector policies around using local solutions. They mostly buy solutions from Europe, not from local markets. So how we can start to create an environment where from the private sector and the public sector, will work with local innovators.
” I live in California, the startups are very smart, because the big companies give them an opportunity to bring their solutions in-house, and after three failures or four failures, eventually you get something that’s very big. That’s just how it goes. But in Nigeria, I’ve experienced that there’s no openness to allowing that three to four times failure”.
The mission of AI4SID Nigeria is to advance the development and adoption of AI solutions in the social impact and third sector economy for sustainable development through a collaborative hub- and-network model; we bring together innovators, communities, and stakeholders in the social enterprise /non-governmental (NGO) ecosystem to develop ethical AI applications in areas such as healthcare, education, agriculture, and public services.
