This call was made at the 2025 ICE Summit Regulators’ Masterclass, themed “Balancing the Scales: The Regulator’s Role in Advancing Innovation”, organised by Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie in partnership with NGX Regulation Limited. The session brought together regulators, including the Nigerian Customs Service, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), corporate regulation experts, and other stakeholders.
Delivering a keynote, Nkem Iheanachor, Board Advisor and Senior Lecturer at Lagos Business School, challenged regulators to “stop seeing the world as it should be, but to see it as it is.” He stressed the importance of adaptive oversight, collaborative regulation, and capacity building to ensure Nigeria’s regulatory environment keeps pace with innovation.
“AI can help regulators apply by-laws smarter and faster,” Iheanachor noted, urging agencies to embrace regional integration and modern tools in their operations.
Also speaking, Mr. Sonny Iroche, Senior Academic Visitor at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, argued that children of the 21st century are naturally AI-compliant, with the exception of those unwilling to “learn, unlearn and re-learn.” He highlighted AI’s transformative potential, citing examples such as its use on corporate boards in China to combat fraud. “AI has come to stay, and its benefits far outweigh its risks,” Iroche added.
However, not all experts shared the same optimism. Austin Okere, Founder of CWG Plc and Entrepreneur in Residence at the Ausso Leadership Academy, took a more cautious stance. In his lecture, “Re-imagining Regulation in a New World Era”, Okere described AI as “pure hallucination” — a false sensory experience that, while convincing, remains unreliable for many critical human tasks.
He argued that AI cannot replace roles requiring emotional intelligence, negotiation, creative reasoning, and decision-making. Challenging LASTMA officials directly, he asked: “How would you stop a driverless car controlled entirely by AI?” Okere estimated AI currently operates at “more than 25 percent disadvantage to humanity.”
Despite these divergent views, the debate underscored the urgency for Nigerian regulators to update their frameworks in response to fast-moving technological shifts. Echoing global sentiments, Elon Musk’s cautionary remark was cited: “Artificial Intelligence is likely to be either the best or worst thing to happen to humanity.”
The Masterclass ended with a consensus that regulators must balance innovation with public safety, drawing on both local realities and international best practices to ensure Nigeria does not lag in the AI-driven era.