Emerging sociotechnical imaginaries of Edtech and AI in education policy discourse in Nigeria

Purpose This study aims to investigate the dominant actor imaginaries of Edtech and Artificial Intelligence in education (AIED) embedded in Nigerian policy discourse under the Tinubu administration, and the argumentation strategies used to legitimise them. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), this study combines a socio-historical analysis with an analysis of a corpus of public texts emerging from the most salient events related to this policy discourse in Nigeria since 2023. Findings Education policy discourse in Nigeria is increasingly driven by a sociotechnical imaginary that positions Edtech and AI as a solution to the persistent problem of education access and equality, and as a catalyst for economic growth. This discourse frames local actors as lacking capacity, and collaboration with transnational corporate and philanthropic actors as necessary to provide the technical, financial, and institutional capacity. It also rests on a demographic argument that constructs the country’s large youth population as a demographic risk/opportunity, whose value lies in its capacity to be mobilised as a workforce for the emerging global technologies market. Through these narratives, traditional actors, who have historically played important roles in education governance, are excluded from the policy networks shaping dominant education discourses. Originality/value This study contributes theoretically to the growing body of research on developing new methodologies to describe new actors present in education policy and empirically supports understanding the flow of sociotechnical imaginaries through networked governance within an under-researched postcolonial context.