Mirian Gom 
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani
ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria has unveiled N-ATLAS, an open-source large language model supporting Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Nigerian-accented English, at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, announced the launch via X on Saturday, describing it as a milestone in Africa’s AI journey. “N-ATLAS places Africa’s voices and diversity at the foundation of AI,” he said.
Developed by the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics with Awarri Technologies, the model enables chatbots for government services, transcription of radio, TV and online content, and captioning in local languages.
Its speech-technology suite includes automatic speech recognition tailored to Nigerian accents. “This is the first step towards making Africa a leader in AI,” Tijani said.
According to its developers, N-ATLAS can also power call-centre support, summarise interviews and enhance accessibility in native languages.
The initiative aligns with Nigeria’s broader plan to integrate local voices into global AI ecosystems. “Africa must not only consume AI technologies but shape their future,” Tijani emphasised.
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Hussaini Ibrahim 
