GRANTING LEGAL PERSONALITY TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

The rapid and increasing deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems across critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, transportation, security, and public administration has intensified doctrinal and policy debates on liability for AI-caused harm. In Nigeria, where AI adoption is accelerating amid regulatory fragmentation, the question whether artificial intelligence should be accorded legal personality has assumed renewed urgency. This article interrogates the legal, constitutional, and jurisprudential feasibility of recognising AI as a legal person under Nigerian law. Anchored in Nigerian judicial authorities, statutory frameworks, and constitutional norms, and informed by contemporary AI liability theory, the article argues that Nigerian law neither recognises nor is normatively prepared to recognise artificial intelligence as a bearer of rights and obligations. It further contends that proposals for electronic personality are conceptually flawed and risk undermining accountability by displacing liability from human actors to autonomous systems lacking moral agency. Drawing on a human-centred and risk-based liability model consistent with emerging global best practices and the author’s research on AI liability in Nigeria, the article advances a principled framework for attributing responsibility among developers, manufacturers, deployers, and users of AI systems. It concludes that Nigeria should reject electronic personality and instead pursue legislative clarification through a dedicated AI liability regime grounded in constitutional values, corrective justice, and effective victim compensation.