The Federal Government has unveiled a new pan-African artificial intelligence (AI) platform aimed at ensuring African languages, cultures and indigenous knowledge are better represented in modern AI systems.
The platform, known as ATLAS Umoja, was launched on Thursday in Abuja during the seventh Ordinary Session of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU).
ATLAS Umoja is an expansion of Nigeria’s N-ATLAS project, Africa’s first government-backed open-source large language model, developed by Nigerian AI and robotics company Awarri.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, said the initiative was created to tackle the underrepresentation of African languages in today’s AI technologies.
According to him, although Africa is home to nearly one-third of the world’s languages, less than two percent are properly supported by current artificial intelligence systems.
“Artificial intelligence represents one of the greatest opportunities for Africa’s transformation. Yet today, fewer than two per cent of Africa’s languages are meaningfully supported by modern AI systems,” Tijani said.
He explained that Nigeria introduced N-ATLAS at the United Nations General Assembly in 2025 as part of the country’s long-term AI strategy and has now expanded the project into a continental initiative.
“Our ambition is for the ATLAS Network to become a platform that accelerates the development of locally relevant large language models in Africa, by Africa and for Africa,” he added.
The minister said the platform would bring together governments, universities, researchers, technology companies and innovators to develop AI models that better understand African languages and local realities.
He also called on member states of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) to join the initiative, saying Africa has a unique opportunity to shape the future of artificial intelligence rather than simply consume technologies developed elsewhere.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Awarri Co-founder and CEO, Silas Adekunle, explained that ATLAS stands for African Tongues and Languages at Scale, while “Umoja”, a Swahili word, means unity.
According to him, the original N-ATLAS project has already attracted about 5,000 developers, giving them access to locally developed AI models instead of relying entirely on foreign platforms.
Adekunle warned that depending heavily on AI systems developed outside Africa could lead to African data being exported while economic value leaves the continent.
“Usually, developers would have to use technology developed outside Africa. They are not just sending their data, which is risky, but value is also leaving Africa,” he said.
He added that the platform is designed to help developers build AI tools that reflect Africa’s more than 2,000 languages, cultures and unique economic realities.
Also speaking, Caroline Mbugua, Senior Director of Public Policy and Communications at GSMA Africa, said the initiative would enable Africa to play a more active role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence.
She disclosed that Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia and Togo are the founding members of the project, with more African countries expected to join in the coming months.
Mbugua noted that expanding AI support for African languages would help improve digital literacy and make technology more accessible to millions of people across the continent.
