Nigeria has become the largest buyer of artificial intelligence-powered surveillance technologies in Africa, spending more than $470 million on systems such as facial recognition and automatic number plate recognition. A recent report by the Institute of Development Studies highlighted that Nigeria, along with ten other African nations, has collectively invested $2.1 billion in smart city surveillance initiatives. This expenditure illustrates a growing trend towards the adoption of AI technologies in public safety and security across the continent.

The report, titled 'Smart City Surveillance in Africa: Mapping Chinese AI Surveillance Across 11 Countries,' is distinguished as one of the most extensive analyses of AI surveillance deployments in Africa to date. It details how countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, and others have approached technology integration within urban environments to enhance their security frameworks. The report emphasizes that Nigeria’s significant spending indicates a robust commitment to modernizing its surveillance infrastructure amidst rising security challenges.

Furthermore, the study notes that the average expenditure for these systems across the region is approximately $240 million per country, underscoring Nigeria's substantial investment relative to its peers. This raises questions about privacy, governance, and the long-term implications of such technologies for civil liberties in Nigeria and across Africa, as nations grapple with balancing security with human rights considerations.