Organisations in Nigeria are increasingly turning to autonomous AI to drive efficiency, innovation, and faster decision-making. However, a recent report by SAS, a global leader in Data & AI software, and IDC, reveals that the country's AI adoption is being hindered by a critical challenge: the lack of data maturity. The report, which examined the trustworthiness of AI across five dimensions, found that Nigerian organisations are struggling to deploy AI responsibly, confidently, and at scale.
The 2026 Data and AI Impact Report measured the trustworthiness of AI across five dimensions: data quality and governance; model governance and oversight; explainability and fairness; responsible AI policy; and audit and accountability. Together, these dimensions form the Trustworthiness Index. Organisations scoring 80 or higher are classified as trustworthiness leaders. According to the report, organisations with the strongest governance, data quality, and auditability practices consistently outperformed peers, reporting at least double the ROI from AI deployments.
The report, which is the second yearly ‘Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust’, found that fewer than one in 20 trustworthy AI ‘laggard’ organisations reported the same level of ROI. The report also revealed that organisations with trustworthy AI practices are 15 times more likely to report strong or high ROI. Bryan Harris, CTO at SAS, emphasised the importance of embedding domain expertise into agentic workflows while keeping people at the centre of governance and oversight.
Harris noted that organisations that successfully embed domain expertise into agentic workflows will close the trust gap and gain a competitive advantage in the market with AI. Chris Marshall, Vice President at IDC, added that as AI becomes more autonomous, organisations face a new challenge: maintaining confidence in systems people don’t fully understand. Marshall emphasised that stronger oversight, explainability, accountability, and data foundations are becoming prerequisites for scaling AI successfully.
The report’s findings span three themes, including trust drives outcomes and drops the moment AI starts to act. Deployment is outpacing trust, with agentic AI trusted by 66 per cent of respondents, trailing generative AI by 10 points. Roughly 89 per cent of respondents said their AI agents now play a role in decision-making, from informing human-approved decisions to acting autonomously.
The report also revealed that trust in agentic AI remains 10 points lower than GenAI. Organisations are entering a new phase of AI adoption, and that changes the trust dynamic. As systems evolve from generating outputs to taking action, the requirements for trust are changing as well. Many of the results in this report reflect organisations adapting to this new reality.
The report's findings have significant implications for Nigerian organisations seeking to deploy AI. With the right approach to data maturity and trustworthiness, organisations can unlock the full potential of AI and drive business success. Key to this is prioritising data quality, governance, and oversight, as well as investing in explainability and accountability.
Key points
- Organisations with trustworthy AI practices are 15 times more likely to report strong or high ROI.
- Trust in agentic AI remains 10 points lower than GenAI.
- Stronger oversight, explainability, accountability, and data foundations are becoming prerequisites for scaling AI successfully.
