The 14th Emir of Kano, His Highness, Khalifa Muhammad Sanusi II, has urged lawyers to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform legal practice.

The emir made the call at the 19th yearly International Business Law Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), held in Lagos yesterday.

Delivering the keynote address on the theme, “The Future of Business Law in an Intelligence Age,” Sanusi warned that Nigeria’s legal profession stood at a crossroads, one that demands urgent adaptation to the realities of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and blockchain technologies.

“We are not approaching an era of transformation. We are in it. AI and automation are no longer buzzwords. They are restructuring our personal and professional environments. Lawyers must now evolve or risk obsolescence,” he said.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor emphasised that the Intelligence Age presents both unprecedented opportunities and profound legal and ethical dilemmas.

He urged legal practitioners to become enablers of innovation while safeguarding equity, privacy, and justice in a rapidly changing digital world. Sanusi outlined major legal challenges emerging from the technological revolution, including: regulatory complexity, consumer protection and intellectual property conflicts.

He issued a warning that the legal profession is facing an existential crisis. “The lawyer as we have known him, the draftsman, the gatekeeper of due process, is at risk of becoming obsolete, not because the law is dying, but because the world is moving faster than your doctrines.”

He challenged the legal community to embrace legal-tech tools, reskill for a digital future, and rethink legal education to prepare lawyers for a world shaped by algorithms, not just statutes.

“A 21st-century Nigerian lawyer must graduate knowing both corporate law and the significance of cybersecurity. Legal education must be reimagined,” he said.