AMAMIHE Journal of Applied Philosophy

This article examines the movement of Nigerian higher education from earlier waves of digital transformation to the present moment of generative artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. Drawing on recent Nigerian and continental African scholarship, the article argues that AI should not be understood as a sudden intrusion into an otherwise stable academic environment but as the latest stage in a longer, uneven process of technological adjustment shaped by infrastructure, funding, and institutional capacity. The article traces the historical development of digital transformation in Nigerian universities, the rapid and largely informal emergence of generative AI in teaching, learning, research, and administration, and the continent-wide disparities in access that continue to shape who benefits from these tools. It further situates this discussion within a theological register, reading the continuity of technological change through Ecclesiastes 1:9–11 and the stewardship of resources through Genesis 2:15, in order to argue that responsible AI adoption is best understood as a form of stewardship rather than either uncritical enthusiasm or blanket rejection. The article concludes that Nigerian universities face not the question of whether to engage generative AI, but how to do so in ways that strengthen rather than weaken the underlying purposes of higher education.

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