Nigeria has unveiled a multilingual large language model (LLM) designed to support indigenous languages, in a move officials say will strengthen cultural preservation and position the country as a leader in artificial intelligence (AI).

The project was announced at GITEX Nigeria in Abuja by Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy. Unlike most global AI models, which are trained mainly in English, Nigeria’s LLM will incorporate Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Tiv, and accented English.

“This multilingual model is our way of securing Nigeria’s place in the AI race,” Tijani said. “We have made significant progress in collecting the data, and our focus is on making AI usable and relevant to our local realities.”

The LLM is being developed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) through its National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), in partnership with Lagos-based startup Awarri, global nonprofit DataDotOrg, and other collaborators.

Officials say the model is a key part of Nigeria’s National AI Strategy, which is built around infrastructure, ecosystem development, adoption, responsible frameworks, and governance. The strategy is supported by the AI Collective, a coalition of academic, civil society, and industry partners.

Lagos Business School is leading AI education and policy training, while the Centre for Justice and Legal Development (CJLD) is engaging civil society. Data Science Nigeria is focused on technical development and startup support.

To build talent, the government is linking the initiative with the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program. More than 7,000 fellows are expected to contribute to the LLM project, while policymakers are receiving training on AI governance and ethics.

The project has secured $3.5 million in seed funding from partners including UNDP, UNESCO, Meta, Google, and Microsoft. Tijani said long-term funding remains a challenge and called for a sustainable financing model beyond donor support.

If successful, officials say the multilingual LLM could improve access to education, healthcare, and public services by enabling technology to function in local languages.

The initiative is still in its early stages, but is being watched closely across Africa. Analysts say it could serve as a model for other countries with diverse languages seeking to develop sovereign AI systems.