In what may well go down as one of the most defining intellectual and policy interventions on the future of Africa in the 21st century, globally celebrated historian and scholar, Professor Toyin Falola, has issued a resounding call for the establishment of an African Artificial Intelligence Consortium to rescue the continent from a looming new age of domination—this time not by colonial powers of the past, but by global technology giants whose reach increasingly extends into every facet of African life through data extraction and algorithmic control.
He made this known while addressing the convocation at the 35th Graduation Ceremony of Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo, Professor Falola warned that the failure of Africa to act decisively and collectively in the face of the artificial intelligence revolution would amount to repeating the tragic history of colonial subjugation—only now in digital form.
Speaking on the theme “The Advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Future of Nigerian Tertiary Education,” Professor Falola positioned AI not merely as a tool of innovation but as a transformative force that is fundamentally reshaping global power structures. “Artificial Intelligence,” he asserted, “is the new significant innovation of our time. It has become an infrastructure of life, permeating healthcare, agriculture, education, warfare, creativity, entertainment, and industry.”
Professor Falola is one of Africa’s most accomplished intellectuals and an internationally revered scholar of African history, politics, and culture. He holds the prestigious Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin and has been honored with 26 honorary doctorates from institutions across the world, most recently from the University of Pretoria. A Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and the Historical Society of Nigeria, he is also a recipient of the Distinguished Africanist Award from the African Studies Association (USA) and the Lifetime Career Award from the Canadian Association of African Studies. At the University of Texas, he has received multiple awards for teaching and research excellence, including the Jean Holloway Award for Teaching Excellence and the Chancellor’s Council Outstanding Teaching Award.
Rooted in his Yoruba heritage, Professor Falola holds multiple chieftaincy titles, including the Bobapitan of Ibadanland and the Bobapitan of Ondo Kingdom, affirming his status not only as a global academic but also as a custodian of African cultural values.
However, Falola warned that alongside its technological promise lies a far more ominous reality—the global AI race is increasingly becoming a battlefield for supremacy, marked by aggressive data extraction from the Global South, particularly Africa, where data is being harvested as the new raw material of the digital economy.
Quoting the works of scholars Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias, Professor Falola described this emergent reality as data colonialism—a process that mirrors the exploitative dynamics of historical colonialism, wherein African bodies, resources, and knowledge systems were commodified for the benefit of others. Today, he observed, it is African data—unregulated, unprotected, and often unconsciously surrendered—that is being mined, packaged, and monetized by global tech conglomerates with little or no benefit to the source populations.
With compelling historical analogies, Falola linked the present dynamics of digital exploitation to the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, where European powers partitioned Africa among themselves in a cold, calculated pursuit of territorial and economic control. “The lecture,” he declared, “situates data colonialism within Africa’s colonial history, exploring how the continent was subjected to massive resource extraction and exploitation that have left it underdeveloped for decades. We are now witnessing a new kind of scramble—a digital scramble—led not by armies but by algorithms; not by monarchies, but by machines.”
He cautioned that without deliberate and urgent continental collaboration, Africa may find itself once again reduced to a zone of extraction—this time not for gold, rubber, or cocoa, but for behavioral data, genetic profiles, linguistic patterns, and algorithmic insights that fuel foreign AI systems.
As a countermeasure to this looming threat, Professor Falola proposed the creation of an African AI Consortium—a multi-sectoral, pan-African alliance designed to consolidate the continent’s strengths, harmonize policy frameworks, and drive inclusive AI development. The proposed consortium would unite African governments, universities, research institutions, technology firms, and civil society in a collective project to develop, regulate, and own AI solutions tailored to African contexts.
“No single African country can go it alone,” Falola stressed. “The scale of investment, infrastructure, human capital, and technological coordination required for meaningful engagement in the AI space far exceeds what any single nation on the continent can muster. Pooling our resources and expertise is no longer a matter of convenience—it is a matter of existential necessity.”
According to him, the African AI Consortium would serve as a central platform for knowledge exchange, capacity building, and ethical AI governance across the continent. It would prioritize homegrown solutions, encourage the integration of indigenous knowledge systems, and champion a model of digital development that resists dependency on foreign technologies.
As part of the broader vision, Falola outlined a suite of policy proposals designed to protect the continent’s digital sovereignty and ensure equity in the age of artificial intelligence. Chief among these was the urgent need for a harmonized data protection regime across African states—one that would establish uniform legal standards to prevent foreign exploitation of African data and foster intra-continental digital trade and innovation.
He also emphasized the development of AI systems rooted in African values, cultures, and social structures. “Our languages, cosmologies, and systems of meaning must not be lost in the avalanche of imported algorithms,” he said. “We must ensure that AI in Africa reflects not only our challenges but also our aspirations and our humanity.”
Another critical intervention proposed by Falola was the inclusion of indigenous knowledge systems in the design and deployment of AI frameworks. Far from being relics of the past, he argued, these systems offer deep ethical, ecological, and communal insights that can ground AI technologies in culturally relevant paradigms and moral responsibility.
In closing, Professor Falola issued a stirring call to action, urging African leaders, scholars, policymakers, and citizens to rise to the challenge of shaping their own technological future. “Undeniably, the future is AI, and this future is inevitable. Whether we can negotiate this future on our own terms depends on the choices we make today,” he said.
Drawing inspiration from Africa’s long history of resilience and reinvention, Falola concluded with a rallying cry: “We must give our children a future where they are not colonized in any form like their forefathers were—a future where they are not mere recipients of technological crumbs, but architects of transformative solutions. We must ensure that the next digital Berlin Conference does not happen without us—or worse, against us.”
With his latest intervention—the call for an African AI Consortium—Falola once again demonstrates his lifelong commitment to advancing Africa’s intellectual agency, historical self-awareness, and strategic positioning in a world being rapidly reshaped by technology.
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