Dataphyte Foundation Country Director, Oluseyi Olufemi, has highlighted the importance of embedding civil society, academia, government, and the private sector into the governance of artificial intelligence (AI), arguing that inclusive participation is essential to building trustworthy and people-centred digital systems.
Olufemi made the call during a webinar organised by the Global Democracy Coalition in partnership with the Open Government Partnership (OGP), titled "Participation in Practice: Practical Approaches to Participatory AI Governance." The webinar brought together Meg Young of Data & Society Research Institute, Eilidh McLaughlin and her team from the Scottish Government, Sarah Kenny of the Open Government Partnership, and other experts to discuss how to move participation from principle to practice in AI governance.
The discussion explored how governments can meaningfully involve the public in decisions around algorithmic systems in ways that strengthen accountability, build trust, and ensure that governance serves the public interest. As AI continues to be adopted across public services, participation processes often struggle to keep pace. They can lack real influence, face pressure from fast-moving economic and policy priorities, and remain difficult to translate into concrete rules and responsibilities. The session examined what it takes to overcome these challenges and what meaningful participation could look like in practice, from surfacing risks early to ensuring affected communities have a genuine voice in shaping outcomes.
Drawing on Nigeria's experience, Olufemi presented the country's Digital Governance Multi-Stakeholder Group, established in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). He described the initiative as a sustainable platform that brings together government institutions, civil society organisations, academia, and the private sector to co-create policies for digital governance and artificial intelligence.
According to him, the initiative emerged from Nigeria's Open Government Partnership commitments on digital governance, with Dataphyte co-chairing the thematic working group alongside NITDA.
Olufemi noted that many governance challenges in Africa are not simply the result of inadequate regulation but also stem from policy processes that fail to include diverse stakeholders from the outset.
"The issues we have in Nigeria, and of course in most of Africa, are not just about regulations; it's also about whether those regulations are inclusive in their creation," he said.
He explained that the collaboration led to the development of implementation toolkits designed to guide public institutions in deploying digital systems that are interoperable, secure, and respectful of privacy and human rights. The framework also considers the needs of vulnerable groups, including children and persons with disabilities.
Beyond developing guidance, Olufemi introduced a Digital Governance Scorecard that will assess government institutions against agreed standards for responsible digital transformation. The assessment framework covers governance and policy alignment, digital public infrastructure, service digitisation and user experience, data governance and protection, as well as inclusion, transparency, and public engagement.
He said the scorecard would be implemented through a transparent, multi-stakeholder assessment process rather than government-led self-evaluation, enabling public accountability and continuous improvement across government agencies.
Reflecting on the collaboration with government, Olufemi said sustained engagement had transformed the relationship between regulators and civil society.
He observed that government institutions increasingly view civil society organisations and the private sector not as critics, but as partners in designing effective, secure, and inclusive digital governance systems.
The webinar also featured presentations from Meg Young of Data & Society, who shared practical methods for integrating public participation into AI impact assessments, while representatives of the Scottish Government showcased Scotland's work on AI transparency, public participation, AI literacy, and participatory AI auditing.
