At the Nigeria Fintech Week 2024, experts and stakeholders urged Africa to become intricately involved in formulating AI governance, ensuring the continent is not left behind in the global discourse to regulate and innovate while asserting its voice in the international dialogue on AI regulations.

Artificial intelligence is advancing across the globe, and Africa cannot afford to remain silent on regulation. This was stressed during a panel session titled “Global Al Regulation: The Role of Africa and the Global South,” moderated by Oremeyi Akah, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Interswitch.

Oremeyi Akah opened the discussion, stating that “The global conversation has largely focused on AI and its development, but we believe it’s time for Africa and the global South to take its place at the table and begin to drive conversations that focus on our own local context and reality. I’m a big fan of Africa, and I believe that Africa has huge potential. However, Africans cannot afford to stay silent at this time of such relevant and edge-cutting technologies.

“Africa is home to the highest concentration of workforce now and projected into the future. So definitely, we cannot just sit, however technology goes; we must be relevantly driving and participating in the conversation.”

Bola Adesina, Director at Bola Adesina Consulting, further reiterated the need for African nations to take part in global discussions. “For me, this is the first time I can say we’re all starting from the same point. In the West, they have the funds and resources, but I believe now is an amazing time in Africa’s history to actually make itself known and create functional discussions around AI,” she said.

Adesina pointed out that Africa has been excluded from important discussions about AI governance. “While the concept of AI has advanced, research from Africa has largely been overlooked. We need to prioritize the voices of minorities and establish regulations not just from governments but also from institutions and the international community. We are here, and we must be included in these conversations.”

Laylaa Okike, Chief Commercial Officer for Africa at Traderoot, also addressed the importance of inclusivity in AI regulations. “What comes to mind is the need for inclusivity in our considerations,” she said. “Given our context and diverse experiences, I believe we should focus on three key aspects including diverse representation, cultural context, as well as access and equity. If we approach it this way, we can discuss global adoption in a similar manner.”

Adetoyese Adedokun, Director at Maycode, added another perspective, noting the unique opportunity for Africa to establish its own AI regulations. “We must recognize that while there are elements that can be beneficial in existing solutions, we also have the chance to create African-centric opportunities. This can be costly, but it brings huge opportunities for businesses,” he explained.

Ikem Isiekwena, Managing Partner at SimmonsCooper Partners, provided historical context by referencing a past Congress to illustrate the ongoing challenges in the regulatory sector. “The concept that the Global North has a complete understanding of AI is not necessarily accurate. They are still learning because AI requires huge amounts of data,” he explained.

“Consider the energy resources needed to power AI and the massive data centres where this processing takes place. We are discussing the importance of energy efficiency in this context.”

The panellists stressed the urgent need for collaboration among African nations to create a unified regulatory framework.

Africa has an unignorable role to play in the global AI conversation, particularly as the continent thrives to overcome the challenges and opportunities presented by this technology.

“The continent must participate in shaping the future of AI governance to ensure that its unique context and local needs are integrated into the global discourse.”

The world’s largest corporations have paid $700 billion in monetary penalties linked to regulatory infringements in 45 countries since 2010, according to Violation Tracker Global, a new database created by the U.S. non-governmental organization Good Jobs First.

Major banks, especially those based in the USA and Europe, account for more than one-third of the penalties.

Ninety-five parent companies have received $1bn or more in penalties.

Violation Tracker Global, which builds on previous databases focused on the U.S. and U.K., provides free access to information on corporate misconduct and regulatory infringements worldwide.

“Violation Tracker Global documents a broad spectrum of misconduct by multinational corporations in their global operations,” said Philip Mattera, director of the Violation Tracker project.

“We hope this tool will support corporate accountability initiatives in various countries, including the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive,” he added.

Violation Tracker Global documents over 50,000 regulatory penalties imposed on 1,600 multinational corporations and their subsidiaries by 700 regulatory agencies and courts in the world’s largest economies in both the Global North and the Global South

The cases in Violation Tracker Global are divided into eight broad offense groups: Competition/Antitrust, Consumer Protection, Employment, Environment, Financial, Government Contracting, Healthcare, and Safety.

Each entry is also tagged with one of about 100 more specific offense categories, such as privacy/data protection violations, bribery, money laundering, and workplace safety. Some countries do not disclose data in all these categories.

Entries include additional details, such as a description of the offense, the monetary penalty (both in the original currency and the equivalent in U.S. dollars), and a link back to the information source, which in most cases is the website of the regulatory agency.

The report lists all the countries and jurisdictions covered by Violation Tracker Global, including: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Commission, the European Free Trade Association, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the USA, and Vietnam.

Additionally, bribery cases from the African Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank are also included.

Federal government has asked a high court sitting in Abuja to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of Hathiramani Ranesh, managing director of Dana Air.

Mojisola Okeya, counsel to the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), made the oral application on Thursday before Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge.

The application followed Ranesh’s absence in court for his arraignment.

The federal government alleged that the managing director has refused to appear for his arraignment in the alleged N1.3 billion fraud

The AGF had filed a six-count charge against Ranesh and two others.

In the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/101/2021 and filed by Moshood Adeyemi, deputy director of public prosecutions in the office of the AGF and minister of justice, Dana Group PLC and Dana Steel Ltd were joined as second and third defendants respectively.

In the first count, Ranesh, the two businesses, and unidentified individuals were accused of committing a crime on the property of the Dana Steel Rolling Factory in Katsina between September and December of 2018.

They were alleged to have conspired to remove, convert, and sell four units of industrial generators “i.e. three (3) units Ht of 9,000 KVA and 1 unit of 1,000 KVA; all valued at over N450 million, which form part of the Deed of Asset Debenture that were charged as collateral security for a bond issued in your favour, which Deed is still subsisting at all material times”.

In count three, the defendants and others at large were accused of conspiring to fraudulently divert N864 million from House No. 116, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Isolo-Lagos, between April 7 and 8, 2014.

The funds were said to be part of Ecobank bond proceeds intended for the resuscitation of production at the Dana Steel Rolling Factory in Katsina and other unapproved purposes.

Count five alleged that the defendants and others conspired to “fraudulently remove and transfer to one Atlantic Shrimpers Account No: 0001633175 with Access Bank and divert the sum of N60,300,000 (Sixty Million Three Hundred Thousand Naira).”

The money was also said to be part of the bond proceeds from Ecobank meant for the resuscitation of production at the aforementioned factory and other unapproved uses.

The cumulative amount involved in the charge stands at N1,374,300,000.

When the matter was called on Thursday, Okeya told the court that though the case was scheduled for the arraignment of the defendants, Ranesh was not in court.

She then urged the court to issue a bench warrant for Ranesh’s arrest.

However, Bidemi Ademola-Bello, defence lawyer, disagreed with Okeya.

Ademola-Bello said they had filed a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter and that the prosecution had already been served.

Okeya, on her part, objected to taking the preliminary objection on the ground that the defendants ought to be arraigned first before the court could entertain any other application.

In his ruling, Egwuatu asked Ademola-Bello to refer the court to any section of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, that makes provision for his request.

The judge also ordered the parties to address the court in the next adjourned date on whether the preliminary objection ought to be taken before arraignment.

He subsequently adjourned the matter until November 4