Nigeria has emerged as the country with the highest weekly use of artificial intelligence (AI) among the countries surveyed by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), with 91 per cent of Nigerians saying they use AI at least once a week.

The figure is significantly higher than the global average of 64 per cent, highlighting how quickly AI tools have become part of everyday digital activity in Nigeria.

The finding is contained in BCG’s latest biennial Digital Government Citizen Survey, which examined how citizens interact with governments and digital services across 44 countries representing about 70 per cent of the world’s population.

The survey included five African countries: Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa.

Nigerians also reported relatively high confidence in their ability to use AI. About 80 per cent described themselves as AI-proficient, compared with 63 per cent globally, while four in five Nigerian respondents rated themselves as intermediate or higher users.

Nigeria is also among the countries with the most positive attitudes towards AI. About 61 per cent of respondents said the benefits of AI outweigh its risks.

The growing use of AI comes as Nigerians continue to rely heavily on digital government services. BCG found that 50 per cent of Nigerian citizens use digital government services, compared with a global average of 38 per cent. The report showed that satisfaction with these services has declined by five percentage points since 2024. Only 17 per cent of Nigerian users said they experienced no problems when interacting with government services digitally, although this was a five-point improvement from the previous survey.

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Nigerians still rate government digital services higher than private-sector services, but the difference has narrowed considerably. The gap fell from 22 percentage points in 2024 to seven percentage points in the latest survey. Wider findings suggest that Nigerians are increasingly comfortable with technology, but the same expectation is being placed on government services.

BCG said citizens now want AI to do more than provide information. They expect it to help with routine tasks, personalise services and make interactions with government faster and easier.

Olayinka Majekodunmi, BCG Lagos Managing Director, said Nigerians’ level of AI engagement showed the country’s openness to emerging technologies and presented an opportunity for public institutions to use AI to improve services and productivity.

Globally, satisfaction with government digital services has fallen by 13 percentage points over the past decade, according to BCG. The consultancy said this presents an opportunity for governments to use AI to improve the way citizens access public services.

Miguel Carrasco, BCG’s Global Leader for the Centre for Digital Government, said governments have an opportunity to use AI to improve how citizens experience public services. He said citizens would ultimately judge the technology by whether it makes government services simpler, faster and easier to access.

Meiza Nigeria