Olumide Oni, a data scientist and graduate of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, is driving a quiet revolution in public finance—through the creation of a sophisticated loan portal powered by advanced artificial intelligence. Designed specifically for the public sector, Oni’s innovation is helping the Lagos State Government distribute economic recovery funds with greater speed, fairness, and accountability.
Oni began developing the framework in 2017, motivated by the need to bring objectivity and structure to a public loan system often constrained by manual assessments and inconsistent data. His breakthrough came in 2020, during the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Lagos State launched the Lagos CARES initiative to support small businesses and at-risk communities. The Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget adopted Oni’s intelligent loan assessment model to guide disbursement decisions—marking a critical shift in how funds were allocated.
“The goal was to eliminate bottlenecks and bias,” Oni explained. “By building a portal that used real-time data, predictive analytics, and advanced AI, we gave the government a reliable tool for identifying who truly needed help—and how to help them.”
The system Oni developed is more than a digital tool—it’s a policy engine. The AI-powered loan portal evaluates community-level financial need, repayment capacity, and economic risk in real time. It transforms large-scale economic relief from a reactive, spreadsheet-driven process into a proactive, precision-based planning system.
The impact was immediate. The Ministry no longer had to rely on guesswork or generalized proxies. Funds were directed to the most vulnerable populations with unmatched accuracy, ensuring transparency and improving public trust.
In April 2020, the Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget awarded Oni a Certificate of Excellence, recognizing the system’s success in improving the sustainability and transparency of loan distribution across the state.
Speaking, he said “My solution brought a level of intelligence and fairness we hadn’t seen before in public loan management,” “It wasn’t just useful—it redefined what we now expect from loan systems that can be adopted and replicated in other internal AI powered loan and credit systems”
Since its launch, the portal has become embedded in the state’s fund allocation infrastructure and continues to influence future budget cycles. More than a pandemic response tool, it is now shaping the government’s approach to development planning and fiscal governance.
Oni’s work has sparked national attention. Researchers, development experts, and civic tech leaders view the model as a replicable blueprint for how AI can be ethically and effectively deployed in public sector finance—across Nigeria and beyond.
By merging technology with accountability, Olumide Oni has created more than a platform—he’s building a smarter, more inclusive future for public lending.