Nigeria's Universities must urgently align their curricula with the fast growing Artificial Intelligence revolution to equip graduates with practical skills for emerging industries, Country Director of drone logistics firm Zipline Nigeria, Anthonio Pinheiro, has argued.

Pinheiro said Nigeria holds one of Africa's largest pools of youthful talent, but cautioned that Universities and technical institutions are not doing enough to prepare students for careers in AI, robotics, and autonomous logistics.

“We have an incredible pool of young talent in Nigeria, and there is an opportunity to help them build the skills needed to power the next generation of AI and autonomous infrastructure,” he said.

Pinheiro maintained that sustainable growth in any industry rests on three pillars, namely people, process, and data, and that organisations succeed by building clear operational structures around reliable data and skilled personnel.

He pointed to autonomous delivery technology as one example of how AI powered systems are already being applied in Nigeria's healthcare sector, arguing that similar approaches could eventually extend into agriculture, e commerce and disaster response if Universities produce graduates equipped to build and operate such systems.

Pinheiro identified ongoing efforts as encouraging signs that the country's tertiary institutions are beginning to respond, citing plans for an AI Institute in Enugu State, private sector backed technology education at Obafemi Awolowo University, and programmes run by the Digital Bridge Institute.

On graduate unemployment, he stressed that technology companies need professionals across multiple disciplines rather than engineers alone, noting that roles in logistics linked industries span pharmacists, flight operators, data analysts, finance professionals, human resource personnel, and operations managers.

“Having practical skills in AI, robotics, software engineering, data analytics and operations, alongside problem solving and teamwork, will be essential for any student,” he said.

Pinheiro maintained that the priority for companies operating in Nigeria's technology space should be building local expertise capable of sustaining the sector long term, rather than treating Universities merely as a source of entry level engineering graduates.