Parliamentarians caution ECOWAS member states against hasty  adoption of AI

By Davies Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT: The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS,Parliament, has cautioned legislative arms of government against hasty adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in parliamentary businesses.

The parliamentarians gave this warning in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, at the ongoing 2nd 2025 ECOWAS Parliamentary Seminar/Extraordinary Session, with theme: “Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Parliamentary Efficiency,  Ethical Governance and Development in the ECOWAS Region. “

The seminar was on Cyber Security, AI Development in the Security Sector, AI for Parliamentary Efficiency and Oversight, AI in Agriculture and Health Development. 

The parliamentarians, while responding to the lectures, said there ought to be extensive advocacy on the AI and the need for lawmakers in Africa, particularly ECOWAS countries to embrace the new development. 

Guy Marius Sagna (Francophone) and Laadi Ayamba (Anglophone), in their separatereactions, said some legislators lack indepth knowledge of technology, noting that they need more sensitization on the new trend.

Sagna particularly argued that the use of AI in law-making and other sectors would have more demerits than good on the society, especially in the workplace.

He stressed that the lawmakers were elected to represent, protect and defend the interests of their constituents, stating that it would be wrong to legislate laws affect the public negatively.

Sagna said ECOWAS subregion lacks AI space for the innovation and called for wider campaign even down to the rural areas, before introducing it for public use.

However,  Ayamba argued that Africa is not prepared for AI adoption because many countries are deep in corruption and poor governance. 

She feared that it would make people lazy because artificial intelligence can do virtually everything for human, adding that with its adoption, people’s data or privacy could be at risk. 

Earlier in his presentation Christian Odo, (Ph.D) on “AI for Parliamentary Efficiency and Oversight,” called for legislative frameworks that would make lawmaking speedy and seamless. 

Odo admitted that the use of AI would create unemployment, but quickly added that the innovation will help parliamentarians in having effective and efficient drafting of documents and reduce burdensome.

He said as legislators and representatives, they are central in ensuring that AI adoption aligns with democratic institutions. 

He said: “Parliaments are knowledge-driven institutions that process large amounts of information,  ranging from legislative text ms to budget reports and citizens petitions.

“Artificial intelligence,  offers tolls to enhancing efficiency  transparency, and oversight in governance. “

The post Parliamentarians caution ECOWAS member states against hasty  adoption of AI appeared first on Vanguard News.