Table of Contents
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming institutions across Nigeria and Africa. Churches, schools, and markets are increasingly adopting AI tools to enhance administration, engagement, learning, and commerce. This article explores current use cases and real-world examples from across the continent.
How Churches Use AI
AI-enhanced church management platforms (e.g., Asoriba)
- Asoriba, founded in Ghana and active in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, provides web and mobile apps that manage church membership, finances, attendance, communications, and digital giving via SMS, mobile money, and push notifications arxiv.orgfr.wikipedia.org+2asoriba.org+2en.wikipedia.org+2.
- Their systems include analytics and branch coordination features. Integration with Interswitch allows convenient digital tithing .
Conversational AI for sermons and pastoral care
- While not yet widely deployed, conversational AI tools are starting to emerge in African churches—automating FAQs, event reminders, prayer request support, and potentially delivering sermon snippets via chatbots. Experimental discussions on platforms like Reddit suggest interest in “personal pastor” chatbots .
How Schools Use AI
Personalised tutoring and learning assistants
- Kwame for Science is an AI web app built on Sentence‑BERT that answers Integrated Science questions for WASSCE students. In an eight-month deployment, it served 750 users from 32 countries (15 in Africa), achieving 87 % top‑3 accuracy arxiv.org+2arxiv.org+2arxiv.org+2.
- Rori, an AI-powered conversational math tutor in Ghana delivered via WhatsApp, improved mathematics achievement (effect size ≈ 0.37) across 11 schools in grades 3–9 arxiv.org.
Mobile adaptive learning platforms
- M‑Shule, an SMS-based adaptive system in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, offers lessons in English, mathematics, and Kiswahili tailored to student performance. It serves 45,000+ learners and reports exam score improvements of 7–20 % impactchallenge.withgoogle.com+2wearetech.africa+2ewb.ca+2.
AI-powered e-learning and administration systems
- Edves integrates AI into school management across 1,600+ schools in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia, Liberia, Benin, and Cameroon. It automates tracking of attendance, academic progress, fee collection, report generation, and parent‑teacher communication ewb.ca+5guardian.ng+5catalyst.edves.net+5.
- EDVES is implementing e-learning in over 2,000 public schools in Kogi State, Nigeria, facilitating student performance tracking and administrative modernization guardian.ng+1guardian.ng+1.
Interactive textbook support
- Snapplify Book Buddy is an AI assistant enabling Q&A, summaries, concept explanations, and mother-tongue support for digital textbooks. It is accessible via WhatsApp and integrated with Snapplify’s e-library used across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia cloudservices.snapplify.com+1en.wikipedia.org+1.
How Markets and SMEs Use AI
E-commerce adoption of AI
- Platforms like Jumia and Konga (Nigeria) employ AI for product recommendations, dynamic pricing, inventory forecasting, personalised marketing, and logistics optimization. Konga plans to integrate AI-driven content like AI-powered music-commerce in 2025.
AI-driven business analytics and communication tools
- SMEs and traders use chatbots, voice agents, and machine‑learning analytics to manage customer queries, deliver WhatsApp notices, optimize stock levels, and forecast demand. Nairobi’s fintech and retail startups increasingly embed AI into daily operations.
Pan-African and Regional Innovation Trends
- AI for coding (e.g., SuaCode) and auto‑grading, as well as AI-driven plagiarism detection tools, are being piloted across Africa to tackle teacher shortages and grading bottlenecks arxiv.org.
- Nonprofit initiatives (e.g., Ghana’s Elsie Effah Kaufmann Foundation) support STEM education enabling local AI and robotics education pathways en.wikipedia.org.
Benefits and Challenges
Benefits
- Improved administrative efficiency and cost savings.
- Wider access to quality education via personalized learning.
- Inclusion of non-smartphone users through SMS and WhatsApp tools.
- Greater engagement and accessibility in communities and commerce.
Challenges
- Infrastructure limitations: unreliable internet, power issues, and device scarcity.
- Skills shortages: need for AI literacy among clergy, educators, and small business owners.
- Risk of undermining critical thinking through over-reliance on AI, as noted by some educators en.wikipedia.orgreddit.com.
- Data privacy, cultural adaptation, and content quality must be carefully managed.
Recommendations for Wider Adoption
- Governments and donors should invest in AI infrastructure (connectivity, devices, power).
- Training programs must target end-users: religious leaders, teachers, school administrators, traders, and MSMEs.
- Solutions should be localized in language and content.
- AI deployments need continuous evaluation to measure learning outcomes, user satisfaction, and performance impacts.
Conclusion
AI is gaining traction across institutional settings in Nigeria and Africa. From church management and interactive scripture delivery, to personalised tutoring, e‑learning, and market-level commerce optimisations, practical implementations are already underway. Increasing access, infrastructure investment, capacity-building, and careful governance are essential to scale these innovations responsibly and effectively.
How to get Started?
Watch Free AI Training Videos here: https://www.youtube.com/@aiinafricatv
Take our Free Introduction to AI Course here: https://aiia.teravest.com.ng/courses/introduction-to-artificial-intelligence-for-beginners/
Dr. Oluwaseun Ogunmola
Founder, Artificial Intelligence in Africa
https://linktr.ee/seun.ogunmola
Sources
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.13703
https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.10786
https://catalyst.edves.net/about-us/ https://www.wearetech.africa/en/fils-uk/solutions/m-shule-bridges-education-gap-in-east-africa-through-mobile-learning
https://www.wearetech.africa/en/fils-uk/solutions/nigeria-edves-enhances-teaching-and-learning
https://cloudservices.snapplify.com/book-buddy-ai-for-publishers/
\https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asoriba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapplify https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.07397
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.09809
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Effah_Kaufmann_Foundation https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.07397
