Responding to a widely circulated commentary stirring reflection across Africa’s academic and technology communities, Nigerian data scientist and psychometrics researcher Henry Sanmi Makinde is calling for an urgent reimagining of how the continent teaches, evaluates, and understands learning in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).

His remarks come at a time when AI systems are reshaping global study habits, academic integrity debates, and professional skill requirements at unprecedented speed.

Makinde whose multidisciplinary background spans statistics, data analytics, educational measurement, psychometrics, and research methodology warns that Africa cannot afford to cling to instructional approaches designed for the 20th century. Traditional assignments such as essays, problem sets, summaries, and routine projects are now easily completed by advanced AI tools.

The problem, he argues, is not that students use AI, but that the education system continues to design assessments “that AI can complete without demonstrating genuine learning.”

He notes that the dominant modes of evaluation across many African institutions rely heavily on recall, reproduction, and formulaic analysis tasks that AI excels at. As a result, the continent risks graduating learners who appear academically competent on paper but lack the deeper cognitive skills needed for innovation, leadership, and global competitiveness.

In a virtual interview, Makinde stresses that Africa’s educational priorities must pivot toward higher-order competencies:

critical thinking
interpretation and analytical reasoning
creativity and original problem-solving
real-world application of knowledge
collaborative intelligence

These, he observes, are precisely the skills that AI cannot mimic without human direction.

Drawing from a recent personal experience, he recounted how he mastered a complex research concept in just one day using AI as a structured learning companion. Instead of memorizing definitions, the tool helped him explore examples, ask better questions, visualize the concept, and apply it practically.

“This is exactly what AI should be in African education,” he said. “A catalyst for deeper learning not a shortcut for avoiding deep thought.”

Makinde cautions that attempt to ban AI outright or treat it as a threat will only widen the global learning divide. Countries that embrace AI as a learning accelerator will produce more adaptable, globally relevant graduates. Those that resist will fall further behind.

He calls for assessment redesign at all levels primary, secondary, tertiary, and professional certification. Assessments should reward reflection, originality, contextual reasoning, and authentic problem engagement, rather than the mechanical completion of tasks that AI can instantly perform.

According to Makinde, educators must also evolve: “Teachers in the AI era must become mentors in judgment, not mere transmitters of information. Our value is in guiding thinking, not repeating content.”

He ends with a direct appeal to policymakers across the continent: “Africa has a choice: harness AI to strengthen learning, or risk building an education system that becomes obsolete in a world powered by intelligent machines.”

As AI continues to redefine the global knowledge economy, Makinde’s message underscores a growing consensus that Africa’s educational future will depend not on resisting the technology, but on redesigning learning systems that work with it.