Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have mapped out strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of the technology to safeguard the integrity of the region and its people, who are unavoidably faced with the realities of AI in the modern world.
This was the crux of the discussion at the ongoing 2025 Second Parliamentary Seminar of the ECOWAS Parliament that commenced in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital on Monday and continued on Tuesday with the theme “Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Parliamentary Efficiency, Ethical Governance and Development in the ECOWAS Region.”
The seminar will be followed by the 2025 Second Extraordinary session of the 6th legislature in the oil- rich city.
Tuesday’s seminar was presided over by the Speaker of the Parliament, Rt Hon. Memounatou Ibrahima, as the MPs deliberated on ways to protect the region against harmful use of the technology to undermine development in critical sectors, especially to avoid jobs losses in a region still struggling with high unemployment.
The MPS mostly appealed for caution after the experts namely; Professor Uche Mbanaso, a cyber-security and computing expert; Dr. Christian Odo, an ICT expert; Theophilus Ukuyoma and Kamaldeen Samaila, made their presentations on topics such as a deploying AI in security; AI for parliamentary efficiency and oversight; AI deployment in the health sector and AI deployment in the agricultural sector respectively.
Leading the debate, Second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Hadjaratou Traore, said AI is occupying the space in terms of administration, and based on orientation in the region “AI should be a tool that could be integrated in our parliamentary business’’.
The Lawmaker from Cote d’ Ivoire, however, noted that the region should be mindful of AI considering the fact that the technology was created by Asian and Western countries who control and dominate its use. She explained that what should be of paramount interest to the region is how to domesticate and mainstream it into parliamentary work and taking into account the issues of ethics.
She called for a regional team to brainstorm on these initiatives of mainstreaming AI into the management of legislative affairs and urged a legislative framework that will be specific to each parliament of member states so that the use of AI can now be mainstreamed into parliamentary work.
Fourth Deputy Speaker, Billay Tunkara, in his submission, said that AI has become the rave of the modern world adding that it has come to stay and the region must find a way to mitigate its risks. The lawmaker from The Gambia stressed however, that “there is need for rigorous sensitization and enlightenment” to ensure that IA does not lead to job losses in the region.
Contributing, Nigerian MP, Awaji Inombek Abiante, called for a basic legal instrument that will enable both the collection of data and the protection of the same. He pointed out that if the region wants to use AI to achieve transparency, then transparency should begin with the leadership recruitment process.
“AI will help us track the activities of government and governance structures in real time and help us fight corruption. But if we have leaders who are not transparent in their conscience, leaders who are corrupt and not interested in revealing the truth it will be difficult to guarantee systems that will be transparent,” he said.
Ghanaian MP, Laadi Ayi Ayamba, acknowledged that AI is the way forward but expressed deep concerns on the risks of deployment of AI even as she charged leaders to be mindful of its consequences especially on the youth and children.
“This is not something that we should embrace wholeheartedly and forget about who we are. It is not solely a benefit to us. Let us be cautious of embracing AI for the future of our children. It is a good idea but we must be careful,” she warned.
Nassirou Bako Arifari, an MP from Benin Republic, said that irrespective of the negative impacts of AI, it presents “ a historical opportunity for the ECOWAS Parliament to draft a model law for the region through which other countries can draw inspiration to draft such laws. “ He stressed that this should be the first stage towards the creation of West African AI Space.