Obadare whose presentation titled “Navigating The Future of Technology In Africa: The Intersection of AI, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Cybersecurity,” examined adoption trends, industry impact, and the key challenges across these technologies.

Taking an overview of Emerging Technologies in Africa, Obadare who was represented by Oluwakayode Olatunji, CISO and Group Head of Information Security at Digital Encode Limited stated that Africa’s digital transformation is accelerating in key sectors like fintech, healthtech, and agritech that are adopting cutting-edge technologies such as AI, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies.

According to him, whereas mobile penetration, cloud computing, and increasing internet access are driving the growth of these technologies, these innovations come with risks and threats associated with cyberattacks, fraud, and data breaches and cautioned that a robust cybersecurity framework is crucial for sustainable digital transformation.

While acknowledging that Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising industries in Africa especially in such areas as healthcare, agriculture, and fintech, Obadare noted that such revolution comes with its challenges including data privacy breach, bias in algorithms as well as limited AI talent.

The cybersecurity expert posited that blockchain is a path to transparency and efficiency as it has been proved that the technology can create transparent, immutable records for elections, land registries, and public services, provide access to financial services for the unbanked and underbanked populations, as well as enhance transparency in the movement of goods, tracking provenance, and preventing fraud.

He however, identified two major challenges mitigating against the seamless adoption of blockchain technology in Africa to include regulatory ambiguity, where governments are still crafting policies around blockchain’s use, which creates a barrier to widespread adoption; and the issue of interoperability evident in the lack of integration with legacy systems.

“AI adoption in Africa spans sectors like finance, healthcare, agriculture, and retail, though progress is slowed by limited infrastructure and data privacy concerns. Blockchain shows potential in fintech, supply chain, and governance, yet faces regulatory ambiguity and legacy system integration challenges,” he said.

Obadare stated that Cryptocurrency is gaining popularity in such African countries like Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, who belong to the group of countries with the highest cryptocurrency adoption rates globally.

He listed some opportunities in the adoption of cryptocurrency to include the reduction in the cost and time of cross-border remittances, which are a vital part of African economies; enablement of individuals to circumvent inflationary pressure and capital control restrictions; and boosting entrepreneurship by affording Startups and SMEs the opportunity to raise capital through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) platforms.

He however, pointed out that cryptocurrency has its own challenges including financial volatility, regulatory policies that have seen several African countries ban or heavily restrict cryptocurrency use due to concerns about fraud and money laundering; and rampant Ponzi scams and crypto-related frauds leading to loss of trust.

In his words,

“Cryptocurrency, especially in Nigeria, is seeing rapid adoption in remittances, investment, and payments, despite volatility and government restrictions. Meanwhile, cybersecurity remains vital as cybercrime escalates across banking, telecom, and government sectors, demanding robust frameworks to protect against evolving threats.”

Obadare, a professor of practice at Miva Open University, Abuja stated that adopting emerging technologies like AI, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and IoT is associated with emerging cybersecurity threats and challenges noting that global cybercrime costs are expected to rise significantly, driven by more frequent and sophisticated attacks like ransomware and APTs.

“The rapid pace of technological advancements has transformed the way we live, work, and interact with each other. From cloud computing to artificial intelligence, new technologies are being adopted at an unprecedented rate. However, this increased reliance on technology has also introduced new cybersecurity threats and challenges.

“Healthcare, financial services, and cloud providers remain prime targets, with attacks on critical infrastructure and IoT expected to intensify. AI, quantum computing, and supply chain vulnerabilities will dominate cyber risks,” he said.

On the future of cybersecurity, he said that the cybersecurity landscape is rapidly evolving, and financial sectors must stay ahead of the curve by adopting the latest trends and innovations, noting that,

“The future of cybersecurity is uncertain, but one thing is clear: AI-powered cybersecurity, cloud security, DevSecOps, IoT security, and quantum computing-resistant cryptography will play a critical role in protecting financial sectors systems, data, and customers from emerging threats.”

Cybersecurity experts he said, play a pivotal role in identifying and mitigating cyber risks through proactive measures and robust security protocols and underscored the need for a security-first culture even as he advocated for government, business, and academic partnerships to create secure, scalable systems for Africa’s digital future.

“In today’s digitally driven world, cybersecurity threats are becoming increasingly common and sophisticated. As a result, teams must prioritize security to protect their organizations from these threats. Fostering a security-first culture within teams is crucial to enhance resilience and prevent cyber-attacks,” Obadare concluded.

Some Key takeaways from the presentation include;

1. Security First As a Culture: This must be adopted by both individuals and businesses through consistent awareness.
2. Opportunities Abound: AI, blockchain, and cryptocurrency present unparalleled opportunities for economic growth and social development in Africa.
3. Security is Paramount for Tech Adoption: Cybersecurity must be at the heart of any technological adoption strategy to safeguard progress.
4. Collaboration is Key: Governments, businesses, and academia must collaborate to create secure, scalable frameworks for emerging technologies.

This is essential for driving sub-sectoral digital growth through Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In his presentation, through Oluwakayode Olatunji, CISO and group head of InfoSec & GRC Advisory at Digital Encode Limited, at one-day ICT Growth Conference organized by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) at the Citi Height Hotel, Lagos, he noted that many African countries lag behind in cybersecurity.

Even in Nigeria, the financial sector has been at the forefront of leveraging AI and cybersecurity, contributing about 25%-30% of AI involvement based on local statistics.

Prof. Obadare highlighted the potential of AI across various sectors, including finance, health, energy, transportation, defense, medical, and agriculture.

He underscored AI’s ability to predict productivity and its diverse benefits but quickly cautioned against the dangers of AI misuse, stemming from issues such as bias and fairness, inadequate transparency, security vulnerabilities, data privacy concerns, and ethical and moral dilemmas.

The cybersecurity expert discussed the use of AI in threat landscape profiling, crime detection and prevention, and reporting capabilities.

He stressed the importance of responsible AI usage and the need for continued investment in AI and cybersecurity.

Identifying AI Governance, Architecture, Implementation, Operations, and Monitoring (GAIOM) as key elements for effective cybersecurity strategies in responsible AI development, he emphasized the importance of AI architecture, including business and data architecture, technology-infrastructure architecture and the necessity of a security architecture which includes cybersecurity and data privacy protection respectively.

Data protection and privacy are crucial components of AI implementation. The process of implementing AI, from setting goals to security monitoring, is vital. The role of education and investment in education for driving AI adoption and economic growth cannot be overemphasized.

To fully realize the impact of AI on national development, he advocated for explicitly defined governance objectives, an AI ethical framework, an interdisciplinary approach, robust local content data management, all-inclusive regulatory compliance, tailored best practice risk assessment and mitigation, transparency and explainability, sustained human capacity development, and robust processes to address AI implementation challenges. He also argued that monitoring AI usage and ensuring its alignment with set goals during the implementation process is critical.

In addition, he called for increased public sector and government investment in education to drive AI adoption and economic growth, noting that the role of education in providing the necessary skills and knowledge for AI implementation cannot be ignored.

He introduced the concept of “knowledge banking,” where knowledge can be monetized to address various economic sectors. He pointed out that in countries using AI to drive their economies, education is a fundamental prerequisite, and positively disruptive education leads to the needed transformation by developing tailored skill sets.

“When we examine this, it becomes evident that many challenges we face in this part of the world will become easier to address. As a country, we have the potential to be a leading light in the knowledge economy because Nigeria is blessed with brilliant men and women,” he said.

Prof. Obadare, who was recently appointed a Professor of Practice by MIVA Open University, Abuja, also proposed a disruption of the educational sector to improve data quality.

He emphasized that relying too heavily on outsourced data libraries can lead to AI biases and stressed the importance of maintaining excellent data quality as a local content treasure.

“To address this, we need to disrupt the educational sector, particularly from primary to tertiary institutions, to focus more on institutional or research-based education. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the global data was sourced from Johns Hopkins Hospital research center, indicating the importance of local research centers.

“We should encourage partnerships with the private and public sectors to create local content hubs, which would attract global tech companies like Meta and Google to invest in our ingenuity. Our tertiary education sector should be research-oriented and local content-focused to improve data quality and upskill the workforce, adapting to the challenge of training AI rather than traditional skills,” he concluded.