Business leaders and technology experts have called for the responsible adoption of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) in Nigeria, emphasizing the need for clear governance, defined limits, and sustained human oversight. This was the focus of a virtual webinar organized by the EY Nigeria Alumni Association as part of the EY Global Alumni Week. The session, themed "Leading with Confidence in the Age of Agentic AI," explored the potential impact of increasingly autonomous AI systems on business operations, decision-making, and the workforce.
The webinar featured prominent speakers, including Wilfred Mamah, Partner and Digital Transformation Services Leader at EY West Africa; Tomiwa Adefokun, Senior Manager, Technology Consulting at EY; and Ashish Bakhshi, Partner and Head of Markets at EY West Africa. Bisi Onasanya, former Group Managing Director of FirstBank, moderated the session. The experts discussed the shift from AI tools that assist employees to systems capable of executing tasks and making decisions, highlighting the need for organizations to adapt to this change.
According to Wilfred Mamah, agentic AI represents a fundamental shift from conventional software that primarily supports users to systems capable of pursuing defined goals, planning tasks, using digital tools, and executing approved actions. He emphasized that the defining change is not simply improved content generation but the transfer of specific tasks, decisions, and actions to software. Mamah identified banking, insurance, and public services as sectors where agentic AI could have immediate applications.
Mamah highlighted the potential benefits of agentic AI, including its ability to gather evidence, coordinate approvals, identify exceptions, and communicate next steps. He noted that this could change not only how individual tasks are performed but also how organizations structure work. The wider impact of agentic AI could be organizational, with work moving away from departmental silos towards business outcomes, and routine execution increasingly giving way to exception management.
Tomiwa Adefokun stressed that the degree of autonomy granted to AI agents should be determined by the level of risk and potential impact associated with their actions. He advised organizations to consider factors including risk, reversibility, confidence, and business impact when determining whether an AI system should merely recommend an action, prepare it for human approval, execute it independently, or escalate the matter for intervention.
Adefokun emphasized the need for organizations to establish clear boundaries around the outcomes an AI agent is expected to deliver, the decisions it can make independently, when it must escalate an issue, who is accountable for its actions, and the data and systems it is authorized to access. He reassured that the future is not autonomous AI operating without people, but rather a collaboration between humans and AI systems.
The experts' call for responsible AI adoption highlights the need for organizations to prioritize governance, transparency, and accountability in their use of agentic AI. As AI systems become increasingly autonomous, it is essential to ensure that they are aligned with human values and goals, and that their actions are transparent and explainable. By doing so, organizations can harness the benefits of agentic AI while minimizing its risks.
Key points
- Experts urge organizations to view agentic AI as a transfer of clearly defined decision rights rather than merely an enhanced chatbot.
- The degree of autonomy granted to AI agents should be determined by the level of risk and potential impact associated with their actions.
- Organizations should establish clear boundaries around the outcomes an AI agent is expected to deliver and the decisions it can make independently.
