Nigerian CEOs are entering 2026 with increased confidence, supported by improving macroeconomic conditions. This confidence is emerging amidst a changing threat landscape.
As these businesses navigate an increasingly digital landscape, CEOs are prioritizing the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to secure a competitive edge this year.
Industry leaders are reportedly leveraging AI to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive data-driven decision-making, signaling a new era where innovation and technology define market leadership.
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In a recent PwC global CEO survey, titled “Leading with confidence amid uncertainty and evolving threats”, technology disruption, talent availability, cybersecurity, and geopolitics now dominate the executive agenda, shaping strategic and operational decisions.
The survey reveals that Nigerian CEOs are focusing their transformation efforts on four core priorities: Technology, strategic reinvention, Data, and AI. Technology, data, and AI remain central to the transformation agenda.
While AI adoption is underway, it is largely concentrated in defined use cases rather than enterprise-wide transformation. A quarter of CEOs report applying AI extensively in demand generation activities such as sales, marketing, and customer service, as well as in products, services, and customer experiences.
This suggests that AI is currently being used primarily to enhance engagement, differentiation, and front-end performance. By contrast, only 9% of CEOs report extensive AI use in direction-setting activities such as strategy, planning, and corporate review.
While the low percentage may appear conservative, it also carries important advantages:
1. Reduced Strategic Risk
By limiting AI’s role in direction-setting, organizations avoid over-reliance on immature models or biased datasets. This helps prevent flawed forecasts or misinformed strategic pivots driven by incomplete or misinterpreted data.
2. Preservation of Human Judgment and Accountability
Strategy ultimately requires leadership accountability. Keeping humans firmly in control ensures that decisions align with organizational values, regulatory realities, and socio-economic context, especially important in emerging markets.
3. Clearer Governance and Oversight
Restricting AI from core strategic functions simplifies governance and risk management. Boards retain clear oversight, reducing ambiguity around responsibility for outcomes influenced by AI systems
However, Technology, data, and AI stand out as the most pressing leadership concerns, with half of CEOs (50%) identifying the pace of technological change, including artificial intelligence, as their biggest challenge.
This rapid innovation compresses decision timelines for CEOs. Strategic bets on data platforms, cloud infrastructure, or AI vendors can become outdated quickly, increasing the risk of misallocated capital and technological lock-in. For Nigerian business leaders, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI, but how to do so without falling behind or overextending resources.
The survey points to a clear set of actions Nigerian CEOs should be considering. These include sharpening innovation execution, accelerating technology and AI adoption, strengthening talent strategies, embedding cybersecurity and trust, and improving resilience planning. Gaps in execution remain most visible in innovation and resilience: only 25% of CEOs report testing new ideas rapidly, while 44% cite long-term viability as a key concern.
PwC’s findings further suggest that Nigerian CEOs who move beyond isolated AI applications and integrate AI into decision-making, core processes, and operating models supported by strong data foundations and governance will be better positioned to convert technology investments into productivity gains and sustained growth.
Outlook
Looking ahead to 2026, Nigerian CEOs appear cautiously optimistic. Improving macroeconomic conditions provide a supportive foundation, but sustained performance will depend on execution discipline.
Artificial intelligence is redefining the rules of business at unprecedented speed. For Nigerian companies, the opportunity is immense, but so is the challenge. CEOs who can move beyond experimentation to build strong data foundations, invest in skills, and embed responsible AI governance will be best positioned to translate technological change into sustainable growth.
Notably, organisations that can scale innovation, embed AI into strategic decision-making, secure critical talent, and strengthen cyber and resilience capabilities are likely to outperform peers.