The International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank have warned that Artificial Intelligence, AI, could deepen unemployment challenges in Nigeria and other developing economies if governments and businesses fail to prepare workers and harness the technology to create jobs.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva gave the warning at the “Small AI: More and Better Jobs” event during the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, describing AI as a “slow-moving tsunami”.
Georgieva said about 40 per cent of jobs worldwide could be transformed, downgraded or eliminated by AI, although the effects would differ across countries and occupations.
She stressed the need for governments to understand the technology’s impact on employment and equip workers with the skills required to adapt to changing workplace demands.
World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said the institution’s central priority was ensuring that economic development translated into employment opportunities.
Banga maintained that AI should be used to improve productivity and create jobs rather than simply replace human workers. He highlighted the potential of affordable AI applications to support schools, healthcare systems and smallholder farmers.
Using agriculture as an example, he explained that a farmer could use a basic mobile phone to photograph a diseased crop and receive advice on treatment. The technology could also connect the farmer to improved seeds, fertilisers, credit, insurance and market information.
In healthcare, AI-powered tools could assist frontline health workers in assessing patients and referring those requiring specialist attention to appropriate medical facilities.
The approach, known as “Small AI”, focuses on practical and affordable applications designed around local languages, infrastructure, needs and budgets rather than relying solely on expensive, sophisticated systems.
The World Bank’s October 2026 Africa Economic Update identifies Nigeria, alongside Kenya and South Africa, as one of the continent’s leading centres of AI activity. However, it notes that adoption remains at an early stage and emphasises the importance of adapting affordable solutions to local challenges.
According to the report, agriculture, education, healthcare, finance, logistics and public administration are among the sectors where AI could improve productivity.
It also identifies unreliable electricity, limited internet access, inadequate digital skills and poor-quality data as major obstacles to wider adoption.
For Nigeria, the challenge is to address these infrastructure and skills gaps while ensuring that AI supports productive employment instead of worsening existing labour-market pressures.
The concerns echo findings in the World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025: Strengthening AI Foundations, which examined disparities in global access to artificial intelligence and the opportunities available to low- and middle-income countries.
The report highlighted the concentration of AI resources in wealthier economies, which accounted for 87 per cent of notable AI models, 86 per cent of AI start-ups and 91 per cent of global venture capital funding for AI as of mid-2025.
It also noted a significant gap between technology usage and infrastructure. Middle-income countries, including Brazil, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, accounted for more than 40 per cent of global ChatGPT traffic, while low-income countries contributed less than one per cent and had less than 0.1 per cent of global data centre capacity.
The report further highlighted differences in basic digital skills, which ranged from below five per cent in low-income countries to 66 per cent in high-income economies. It also warned that developing regions were losing three to four times more technology workers through migration than they were attracting.
The World Bank had estimated in 2023 that fewer than five per cent of people in low-income countries used basic digital services such as email, online searches and digital transactions, illustrating the extent of the global digital divide.
The institution warned that without targeted investment in education, infrastructure and the retention of local talent, developing countries risk remaining consumers of AI technology rather than becoming active participants in its development.
Meanwhile, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, has also expressed concern about technology-related job losses in Nigeria.
The association’s President, Fanimokun Adesina, raised the issue during the 2026 World Day for Decent Work commemoration in Lagos, warning that robotics and artificial intelligence were already displacing workers.
Adesina urged employees to acquire digital skills and adapt to emerging workplace technologies to improve their performance and productivity and remain relevant in an increasingly technology-driven labour market.
Source: Vanguard
