Chioma Nwaodike: Architect of Trust in Africa’s Emerging Tech Landscape

Tosin Clegg
From global AI frameworks to cybersecurity strategy, Chioma Nwaodike is helping shape how African institutions govern the technologies redefining our future.

As debates around artificial intelligence governance and cybersecurity regulation intensify worldwide, Nigerian-born technology advisor Chioma Nwaodike is carving a quiet but powerful niche one grounded in evidence, strategy, and global relevance.

With experience spanning the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a leadership role at the Committee to Protect Journalists, and advanced studies in cybersecurity and engineering, Nwaodike’s work focuses on building digital trust in systems that are too important to fail.
“Tech adoption without governance is a recipe for instability,” she says. “My goal is to ensure African institutions have the tools, strategies, and foresight to lead not lag on responsible AI and cybersecurity.”
Bridging Global Policy and Local Implementation
As a former technology advisor with the UN’s ITU, Nwaodike contributed to the review and development of international frameworks on data protection, AI governance, and digital privacy. Her work included an in-depth evaluation of over 200 digital initiatives, mapping organizational strengths and gaps to inform better multilateral digital strategies.

She also led policy analysis around the SDG Digital Initiative and evaluated draft resolutions on “ICTs for Sustainable Development” and “Science, Technology, and Innovation” within the UN Second Committee contributing data-backed insights that helped shape UN tech development priorities.

Her strategic reach includes co-authoring research on Nigeria’s $430 million Digital Identity Project, where she analyzed the intersection of data governance, national infrastructure, and public trust one of Africa’s most ambitious digital rollouts.

AI Security and Zero Trust Innovation
Nwaodike’s thought leadership extends into technical domains. In one of her standouts works, AI-Powered Threat Hunting: Detecting Adversarial Machine Learning Attacks in Zero-Trust Environments, she explores how machine learning systems can be exploited and how to secure them.
She has worked directly with institutions across Africa to integrate zero-trust architecture a security model built on the principle that no system or actor should be automatically trusted. These models are now central to modern cybersecurity frameworks for governments, financial institutions, and infrastructure providers.

“AI can be biased, brittle, and dangerously opaque. Governance isn’t a barrier to innovation it’s how we make it safe.”

Centering Inclusion in Global Tech Policy
As a panelist for the 2023 EQUALS in Tech Awards, Nwaodike helped evaluate over 120 global initiatives focused on inclusive tech, spotlighting programs advancing gender equity in digital ecosystems. She contributed to the publication “SHE in STI: Closing the Gender Gap in Science, Technology, and Innovation,” a collaborative effort that amplified UN-wide initiatives tackling gender imbalance in science and technology.
Her outreach and advocacy helped connect with over 500 women and girls, supporting programs that encourage inclusive participation in the digital economy.

Translating Expertise into Real-World Impact
Currently serving as Technology Advocacy Manager at CPJ, Nwaodike leads projects to mitigate digital risks facing journalists, particularly in the context of spyware, AI-driven surveillance, and state-sponsored cyberattacks. Her advocacy efforts intersect with her cybersecurity training, allowing her to shape policies and tools that defend press freedom in hostile digital environments.
A Columbia University graduate, she is also pursuing a Master of Science in Cybersecurity (MSCS), deepening her technical foundation while advising organizations across sectors on digital risk, infrastructure design, and trust-based governance.

A Voice for Africa’s Digital Sovereignty
Whether drafting frameworks, testing system vulnerabilities in AI, or guiding policy teams through regulatory complexity, Chioma Nwaodike’s work signals a shift: one where African voice are not just users of global technology but architects of its future.
“Africa has the urgency and the ingenuity. What we need is ownership of our digital systems and the trust to lead,” she says.

In a world where emerging technologies hold both great promise and risk, Chioma Nwaodike is building the foundation for a safer, more inclusive future one protocol, one policy, one breakthrough at a time.