Arunma Oteh convened the second Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference with a clear purpose. On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja filled with leaders from government, business, technology, finance, and civil society. From sessions that began around 8:30 a.m. through a closing cocktail reception, the day centred on one urgent question: how Africa turns its vast potential into broad-based, sustainable prosperity. The theme, “Leadership for a Prosperous Future,” organised the conversation around three interlocking pillars: Resilience, Innovation, and Dynamism. A deliberate spotlight on artificial intelligence, including the launch of an OGTT AI Report, an AI Virtual Centre, a masterclass, and an exhibition, underscored both the transformative possibilities and the sovereignty risks of emerging technologies for the continent.

Oteh founded the Oxford Global Think Tank as an independent, non-governmental, non-partisan organisation. Her own record gives the platform weight. She is a Nigerian economist, former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, former Treasurer and Vice President of the World Bank, and currently Executive-in-Residence at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. OGTT’s mission is straightforward: foster open research and continuous dialogue so that public and private sector leaders can explore better policies, strengthen institutions, and drive development. Its work spans governance and the economy, infrastructure and resources, and industry and finance. This 2026 conference built directly on the inaugural 2025 edition, which had emphasised ethical leadership, capital markets, and a report on reforming African minerals.

The choice of Abuja was deliberate. Nigeria sits at the centre of Africa’s demographic and economic story: a youthful population, enormous natural and human resources, and acute challenges of institutional capacity, infrastructure deficits, inequality, and the need to translate macroeconomic stabilisation into everyday improvements in living standards. The conference convened at a moment when global power dynamics are shifting, artificial intelligence is advancing at breakneck speed, and African countries face critical choices about whether they will shape the next wave of technology or merely consume it.

Co-chairs for the day were His Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Mr. Atedo Peterside, founder of the ANAP Foundation and a prominent businessman and former chairman of Stanbic IBTC Holdings. The conference keynote was delivered by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, former President of the African Development Bank and Executive Chairman of the Global Africa Investment Summit. Other high-profile participants included Abia State Governor Alex Otti; Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy; Mrs. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Minister of Women Affairs; Dr. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President of Afreximbank; Dr. Emomotimi Agama, Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Mr. Gbenga Agboola, CEO of Flutterwave; and Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission. Virtual participation options extended the reach beyond the physical room.

Oteh framed the day’s conversations around a practical recognition. Africa’s future will be shaped less by abstract aspirations and more by the quality of leadership decisions and institutional choices made today. Resilience, in her framing, means the capacity of institutions and societies to withstand shocks, economic, climatic, technological, or political, and to recover stronger. Innovation covers the deliberate adoption and creation of new technologies, business models, and governance tools. Dynamism speaks to the agility required to evolve public and private systems in response to changing citizen expectations, demographic pressures, and global competition.

A major highlight was the AI focus that Oteh placed at the centre of the agenda. The conference launched an OGTT AI Report, presented insights on Africa’s position in the AI race, and introduced an AI Virtual Centre. An exhibition showcased emerging technologies with potential applications across the continent. Speakers repeatedly returned to a core tension that Oteh and the report authors highlighted: AI reached half the world’s population in roughly three years, far faster than electricity or the internet, yet Africa risks repeating historical patterns of exporting raw commodities while importing finished value unless it builds ownership of data, applications, infrastructure, and talent.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina delivered one of the day’s most ambitious interventions. He warned that the global AI race will determine future economic power and that a continent projected to reach approximately 2.5 billion people by 2050 cannot afford to remain a passive market for technologies developed elsewhere. “Africa must approach the AI revolution as a continent determined not to follow, but to lead,” he declared.

Adesina proposed the establishment of a $10 billion Africa AI Frontier Technology Fund as the catalytic anchor for mobilising $50 billion over the next decade. The broader financing structure he sketched included contributions from African governments, multilateral and African development finance institutions, private investors, philanthropic partners, and the global technology industry. He outlined a five-point strategic framework: capturing economic value from AI, investing heavily in digital and energy infrastructure, shifting from mere technology adoption to homegrown creation and ownership, mobilising large-scale institutional capital, and strengthening political leadership, potentially including dedicated ministers for artificial intelligence in African governments.

He emphasised converting Africa’s youthful demography into a genuine demographic asset class equipped to invent, commercialise, and export advanced technologies. Estimates cited during the conference suggested generative AI could add between $61 billion and $103 billion in economic value to Africa, but only if deliberate investment and coordinated action follow. Adesina called for a coalition involving the World Bank, the African Development Bank, African governments, and private tech partners to make this vision real. Oteh’s insistence on an ecosystem approach provided the natural frame for such a coalition. Sustainable growth, she argued throughout the day, requires governments, businesses, investors, financial institutions, and citizens working together.

Speaking virtually, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II offered a nuanced assessment of Nigeria’s recent economic trajectory under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. He acknowledged measurable progress: economic growth moving from an average of roughly 0.9 percent toward about 4.5 percent, inflation declining from over 30 percent to around 14.6 percent with projections of further moderation, and foreign reserves rising to approximately $55 billion. He also noted diversification signals, including the contribution of the Dangote Refinery to exports.

At the same time, Sanusi sounded clear warnings. He highlighted concerns about the size of government expenditure and debt sustainability, referencing figures indicating that debt service had consumed a high proportion of federal revenue in the first half of 2026, a point later contested in interpretation by the Finance Ministry, which projected a lower full-year ratio. He insisted that reforms must go beyond fuel subsidy removal and exchange-rate liberalisation to include deeper structural changes, prioritised spending on electricity, agriculture, roads, and technology, and effective social protection for the vulnerable. Critically, he urged the government to treat constructive criticism about poverty and hardship as valuable input rather than personal attacks on the president. “It’s not every time people talk about poverty or talk about difficulty that they’re just enemies of the government,” he noted.

Atedo Peterside reinforced the growth imperative. He argued that Nigeria should not be satisfied with growth rates around 4 percent when the country needs something closer to 10 percent to create sufficient jobs, expand businesses, and meaningfully improve living standards for a rapidly growing population. Both speakers converged with others on the need for stronger institutions, protection of businesses from arbitrary interference, merit-based public appointments, and policies that convert macroeconomic gains into tangible improvements in people’s daily lives. These points aligned directly with Oteh’s long-standing emphasis on institutional quality and the mobilisation of domestic capital.

Abia State Governor Alex Otti delivered a public-sector keynote titled “Putting Our Best Foot Forward.” He expressed gratitude to Arunma Oteh for assembling leading minds and for her consistent faith in Nigeria’s and Africa’s potential. Otti argued that sustainable prosperity depends on the quality of leadership, effective institutions, and deliberate policy implementation. He warned that indifference among the political, business, and intellectual elite undermines national development.

Otti linked the conference pillars directly to governance challenges. Building resilient institutional culture requires the capacity to follow through on reforms. Innovation in the public sector means creating new traditions of efficiency when old conventions become hindrances. Dynamism demands that service-delivery frameworks evolve to meet changing public expectations in education, health, transportation, and information management. He highlighted Abia’s own experiments, transitioning toward smart schools, investing in renewable energy, and introducing electric buses for mass transit, as practical illustrations. He also called for active citizenship: capable voices must engage rather than retreat into silence, supporting tools that track project execution, aggregate public sentiment, or incentivise civic participation.

Minister Bosun Tijani emphasised that government can lay foundations, connectivity, compute and data infrastructure, data availability, skills and research capability, and supportive policy and institutions, but private businesses must build products and services that translate those foundations into jobs and growth. He outlined Nigeria’s concrete steps: a multi-billion-dollar investment in an open-access fibre-optic network spanning tens of thousands of kilometres, shared computing capacity for researchers, development of local AI capabilities including a government-backed large language model supporting major Nigerian languages and accented English, and a target of training millions of technical talents. He drew parallels with the telecommunications liberalisation of the early 2000s, which unlocked private investment and spawned entire new sectors.

Arunma Oteh, as convener, repeatedly stressed an ecosystem approach. Sustainable growth requires governments, businesses, investors, financial institutions, and citizens working together. Domestic capital markets have a critical role in mobilising resources; broader retail participation would allow more citizens to invest in productive enterprises and share in growth. Pension funds, properly safeguarded, represent another source of long-term capital. With roughly 70 percent of Africa’s population under the age of 30, investment in education, skills, and employment is non-negotiable. She also advocated greater decentralisation so that communities and subnational authorities can address local needs more effectively. On AI specifically, Oteh positioned technology as an amplifier whose benefits can be harnessed and whose dangers can be managed through thoughtful leadership.

Presenters of the AI Report, including voices such as Dr. Chidinma Okolo, argued that Africa’s primary challenge is not a shortage of talent but ownership of the technology and the economic value it generates. The continent should prioritise building its own applications, adapting AI to local languages and conditions, retaining data ownership, and focusing practical deployments in healthcare, agriculture, education, and small businesses. Without such intentionality, Africa risks another cycle of exporting raw potential while importing finished technological value. This diagnosis sat at the heart of the agenda Oteh designed.

Across panels covering capital markets, public-sector acceleration of transformation, institutional integrity, and inclusive growth, several consistent messages emerged. First, modest growth is insufficient; ambitious targets paired with institutional quality and human-capital investment are required to dent poverty and create opportunity at scale. Second, macroeconomic stabilisation must be accompanied by social protection and communication that treats citizens as partners rather than adversaries. Third, technology, particularly AI, is not destiny; leadership choices about investment, ownership, skills, and regulation will determine whether it widens or narrows inequality. Fourth, elite responsibility matters: those with capacity and platforms must engage constructively rather than remain indifferent.

The conference format mixed keynotes, panels, a dedicated AI masterclass, report launches, and an exhibition, creating space for both high-level vision and practical exchange. Attendees and virtual participants left with concrete proposals such as the AI fund concept, sharpened diagnostics on debt sustainability, growth targets, and institutional culture, and a reinforced sense that Africa’s demographic window is both opportunity and obligation.

The 2026 OGTT Leadership Conference did not claim to solve Africa’s or Nigeria’s complex challenges in a single day. What it achieved, under Oteh’s leadership, was to assemble an unusually high-calibre group of decision-makers and thinkers, centre the conversation on actionable leadership and institutional choices, and place artificial intelligence firmly on the agenda as both opportunity and test of sovereignty. By launching research products, proposing ambitious financing vehicles, and modelling open dialogue, including critical yet constructive assessments of current reforms, the event advanced OGTT’s core mission.

As Africa’s population continues its rapid expansion and the global technological frontier advances, the quality of leadership exercised in capitals such as Abuja will help determine whether the coming decades deliver widespread prosperity or missed opportunity. The conversations of November 3, 2026, offered both a diagnosis and a call to deliberate, collaborative action. The real test, as several speakers noted and as Oteh has long insisted, will be whether the ideas generated translate into sustained policy, investment, and institutional follow-through long after the halls of the Transcorp Hilton emptied.

In an era defined by rapid change, the Oxford Global Think Tank’s second Leadership Conference served as a timely reminder under its founder’s guidance: Africa’s future is not predetermined. It will be shaped by the choices its leaders and institutions make today, choices about resilience, innovation, dynamism, and the courage to lead rather than follow in the age of artificial intelligence.