The 2024 edition of the AI-in-Nigeria InnovateAI Conference, themed “Adapting AI for Nigeria: Crafting Intelligent Solutions for Our Unique Landscape,” marked a turning point in Nigeria’s national conversation around artificial intelligence. This edition laid the critical intellectual and infrastructural foundation for the conference’s expanded impact in 2025 — and at the core of that foundation was Ubong, whose strategic input, thoughtful execution, and deep understanding of Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem made him a key architect of the event’s success.

As the AI discourse in Nigeria matured from early awareness to application and implementation, the 2024 edition focused on contextualising AI for Nigeria’s realities — its infrastructural gaps, informal economy, public service delivery challenges, and massive youth population. Ubong’s role was central in translating this theme into a real, accessible, and inspiring experience for all participants.

Content Strategy & Development: Localising the AI Conversation

Ubong led the content development team, where he championed a strategy centred on local relevance. Instead of merely replicating global AI narratives, he worked closely with researchers, technologists, and policy analysts to craft sessions that addressed Nigeria’s unique developmental needs and opportunities. These included:

• Adapting Natural Language Processing (NLP) to indigenous Nigerian languages for education and communication.
  
• Using AI in agricultural optimisation for smallholder farmers.
  
• Exploring machine learning applications in public health surveillance and rural telemedicine.
  
• Ethical frameworks around AI in data-scarce environments.
  

Ubong ensured that every keynote, panel, and breakout session was grounded in real-world applicability, particularly for stakeholders operating in resource-constrained environments. He also developed interactive content formats — including “Ask the Expert” fireside chats and case-study storytelling sessions — that made advanced concepts more approachable.

Speaker & Thought Leader Coordination: Assembling a Diverse, Cross-Sectoral Faculty

Recognising the importance of representation and interdisciplinary thinking, Ubong spearheaded the speaker selection and management process for the conference. His goal was clear: amplify a diverse range of voices, particularly those working on the ground in Nigeria’s most underserved sectors. He curated a lineup of:

• Government leaders shaping the national AI strategy.
  
• Startup founders building locally-trained AI models.
  
• Data scientists addressing social challenges like education gaps and unemployment.
  
• Civil society leaders advocating for inclusion, access, and ethical governance.
  

Ubong personally coordinated speaker onboarding, from pre-event briefings to travel logistics and slide reviews. His team also hosted virtual “Speaker Huddles” prior to the event — informal sessions where speakers could align, collaborate, and even co-create ideas. This resulted in more dynamic, synergistic conversations on stage and gave the conference a coherent, unified thematic identity.

Pre-Conference Engagements: Building the Movement Before the Main Event

Ubong believed that a truly transformative event must extend beyond the four walls of a conference hall, and so he took charge of designing a suite of pre-conference engagements that seeded energy, ideas, and participation well in advance.

Under his leadership, the team executed:

• AI Hackathons in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, where young innovators tackled challenges in transportation, digital identity, and microfinance.
  
• A national AI Essay Competition for tertiary institutions, designed to spark academic interest in machine learning, robotics, and data ethics.
  
• A series of online masterclasses and Twitter/X Spaces, creating awareness around the event’s theme and drawing in broader community participation.
  

These pre-conference activations, coordinated with precision by Ubong, succeeded in mobilising the tech ecosystem — from student developers to enterprise engineers — and helped to embed a sense of ownership and inclusivity around the conference.

Policy & Ecosystem Building: Laying the Foundation for 2025

One of Ubong’s less visible but deeply significant contributions was his work on ecosystem documentation and policy recommendations that emerged from the 2024 event. He helped moderate strategic policy roundtables and collated key insights from various stakeholder dialogues. These insights were distilled into a whitepaper on “Localising AI for National Development”, which was later referenced during the design phase of the 2025 InnovateAI agenda.

He also nurtured relationships that would become strategic partnerships the following year — including early conversations with firms like Visa, Huawei, and African Data Hub, who later became key collaborators for the 2025 edition.

Legacy & Impact

Ubong’s work on the 2024 InnovateAI Conference not only helped frame the national dialogue around AI — it also laid the groundwork for Nigeria’s evolving AI ecosystem. His efforts ensured that the conference wasn’t simply a one-off event, but part of a sustained, iterative movement toward intelligent, inclusive, and homegrown innovation.

Thanks to his foresight and tenacity:

• The conference’s audience grew by over 60% between 2024 and 2025.
  
• Regional delegates began attending in greater numbers, including innovators from Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda.
  
• Stakeholders began forming working groups and accelerators tied to AI-for-good initiatives discussed in 2024.
  

Ubong’s contributions to AI-in-Nigeria InnovateAI Conference 2024 were more than organisational; they were foundational. He helped craft not just an event — but a national vision for how AI can be meaningfully adapted to local realities, enabling Nigeria to leapfrog in areas like education, healthcare, governance, and productivity. His leadership, attention to detail, and people-first mindset helped move AI in Nigeria from an abstract frontier to an accessible tool for progress.