| Abstract: |
This study investigated the accelerating integration of
Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the Nigerian print media
landscape and its impact on labour dynamics, professional
identity, and operational efficiency. Grounded in a systematic
meta-synthesis of recent studies, policy documents from the
National Information Technology Development Agency
(NITDA), and case studies of legacy and digital native
newsrooms, the research interrogated the tension between
technological optimisation and workforce security in a
developing economy. The study aggregated qualitative and
quantitative data from over 1,000 journalists across Lagos,
Abuja, Kogi, and Enugu to analyse the correlation between the
digital skills gap and displacement. The findings revealed that
Nigeria boasted a high national AI usage rate of approximately
70 percent, yet the print media grappled with profound
infrastructural deficits, a skills gap costing the national
economy an estimated 11 billion dollars annually, and a
schism between editors who viewed AI as an efficiency tool
and reporters who feared imminent redundancy. The research
identified that while AI automated routine tasks such as
transcription, layout, and data analysis, the displacement
observed was less about robot for human substitution and
more about the obsolescence of journalists who lacked data
literacy. The article concluded that AI was restructuring the
media labour market, necessitating a shift toward human in the
loop workflows where journalists functioned as verifiers and
context providers. It recommended infrastructural investment
and mandatory curriculum reform to prevent Nigerian media
from becoming informational colonies of Western technology firms. |
