NASENI’s Innovation Milestones Deepening Nigeria’s Industrialisation Agenda

The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has opened diverse areas of strengthening innovation and skill acquisition centres in Nigeria and enhancing the capacity of Nigerian women and youth to do more in the areas of wealth and job creation and overall economic growth.

Concerning these ambitious moves, the Agency under the leadership of the indefatigable Executive Vice Chairman/ CEO of NASENI, Khalil Suleiman Halilu, has marshaled out programmes and projects to put Nigeria on the global innovation map in pursuit of Nigeria’s industrialization drive.

One of the overall objectives is the enthronement of innovation in the heart of science and technology. To this end, in October 2025, NASENI hosted Abuja’s biggest founder’s mixer, in line with its mandate to promote innovations through the 3Cs principle of Creation, Collaboration and Commercialization.

The event, held at the NASENI headquarters, brought together a vibrant mix of entrepreneurs, startup founders, investors and ecosystem enablers to connect, exchange ideas and explore new ways for collaboration and growth.

During the engaging fireside chat, the Special Adviser to the NASENI EVC/CEO on Research Commercialization and Efficiency, Engr. Dr. Anas Balarabe Yazid, reaffirmed the Agency’s deliberate focus on accelerating Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem. He said the event is a reconciliation of leadership vision that blends with technological creativity, entrepreneurial prowess and commercialization mindsets, ensuring that ideas translate into viable market solutions.

Under Halilu, NASENI has demonstrated commitment to empowering young innovators, supporting community-driven initiatives such as the Founders’ Mixer, and continuously improving its intervention programmes based on stakeholder feedback and evolving innovation needs. Participants were encouraged to ensure that their inventions are geared toward solving societal challenges, especially perspectives on innovation-the technology and business aspects.

Earlier, the Programme Manager of NASENI Innovation Hub, Mrs. Woka Philips-Ayinu introduced the Hub as a flagship initiative of the Agency established to support Nigerian innovators and startups by providing comprehensive support systems, facilitating effective partnerships and nurturing ideas from conceptualization to commercialization.

She also informed participants on several existing NASENI intervention programmes, including InnoGov, DELTHER, DELTA-2, and the Innovate Naija Challenge. She further unveiled upcoming programmes such as Future Makers (to catch them young), NASENI Xceler8 for startups in science, engineering, manufacturing and technology, the NASENI Reverse Japa Programme aimed at tapping diaspora talent and curbing brain drain, as well as the NASENI Incubation Scheme.

The NASENI Founders’ Mixer is a rare opportunity to learn, connect and gain insight into the operational mechanisms and opportunities that NASENI offers to young Nigerian inventors and entrepreneurs. The event featured networking sessions, fun games, short pitches and experience-sharing moments, all geared towards fostering meaningful relationships, sparking new innovations and strengthening Nigeria’s entrepreneurial community.

One of the many areas of investment by NASENI is the Developing Engineering Leaders Through Her (DELT-Her 2.0), a programme in partnership with the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) to boost the capacities of female engineers to exploit their potential for national development.

The NASENI-PICTT partnership took a very fundamental step in this direction when it granted the sum of N229 million to 14 awardees of the Developing Engineering Leaders Through Her (DELT-Her 2.0) initiative. This initiative was launched to build the capacity of women in the engineering ecosystem.

DELT-Her is an opportunity platform through which women can turn bold engineering ideas into solutions that can change the world. This partnership  has  made it possible that out of the 9,925 project proposals, 14 women engineers emerged as awardees, receiving the N229 million in grant funding to advance their innovative projects across critical sectors such as agriculture, clean energy, health, mobility, digital security and environmental sustainability.

This bold programme is meant to foster inclusion and the Agency is clear on the mandate and  strategy  to empower  women  through DELT-Her, which  represents new capacity for the nation’s technology and manufacturing ecosystem with a unique perspective that drives better designs, smarter products and more human-centred innovation.

The inaugural cohort of DELT-Her in 2024, ignited a movement by empowering six outstanding female engineers with N70.5 million in grants to support the development of their pioneering innovations. This year, DELT-Her 2.0 attracted 9,925 project proposals, compared to just 120 applications in the previous year.

The programme had gone from mentoring 30 school girls in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2024, and in 2025,  it reached over 150 girls across Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Nasarawa and the FCT, providing mentorship, bootcamps and fabrication kits that have inspired them to develop their own prototypes.

The initiative has received copious commendations from other stakeholders with a profound commitment to sustain the efforts and strengthen its capacity for more investment especially now that the government under the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu government is diversifying the Nigerian economy.

Contributing, Chairman of PICTT, Dr. Mohammed Dahiru commended the awardees, noting that their dedication, ingenuity and resilience exemplify the potential of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). “As we honour these milestones, let us recommit to sustaining this momentum, ensuring that DELT-Her continues to bridge gaps and drive national development,” he remarked.

Another bold initiative which NASENI has embarked on in partnership with Afrilabs, is the Innovate Naija Challenge designed to identify, empower, and support innovative youths across Nigeria. Through creative video submissions, participants will showcase their inventions or ideas for a chance to receive funding, with 37 winners selected from across the country.

The Innovate Naija Challenge aims to ignite creativity and generate vibrant energy within Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem, using social media to create a dynamic, high-energy movement that celebrates local talent and ingenuity.

NASENI has launched InnovateNaija, Nigeria’s biggest innovation competition, with a prize pool of N250 million to support homegrown inventions in science, engineering, and manufacturing. The initiative, backed by the Presidency, the NASENI Innovation Hub, and AfriLabs, officially kicked off in September 2025 at the GITEX Nigeria 10x Stage, Landmark Event Centre, Lagos.

It is designed to inspire and showcase the nation’s brightest minds, InnovateNaija will identify and fund transformative ideas capable of addressing Nigeria’s unique challenges and advancing technological growth. Under the scheme, 37 state-level winners — one from each of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT — will be selected through public voting.

Each will receive a N2.5 million grant to develop their innovations. The top 15 will progress to the grand finale at the NASENI Invention Fest in Abuja, February 2026, where they will pitch their solutions before expert judges and stakeholders. The overall winner will walk away with N100 million in funding.

Executive Director of AfriLabs, Anna Ekeledo, described the initiative as a boost to Africa’s innovation ecosystem. “By empowering innovators across all states in Nigeria, this competition not only fuels creativity but also strengthens the innovation ecosystem. We are excited to support NASENI in spotlighting Nigerian ingenuity,” she said.

Another prominent innovation initiative is the NASENI Research Commercialization Grant Programme (NRCGP) targeted at providing funding to researchers to turn innovative, published research into commercially viable products and services. Eligible projects must be novel, align with NASENI’s objectives, and demonstrate potential for scale and sustainability.

The application process is fully online and involves two stages: an initial check for novelty and a deeper dive into commercial viability, using frameworks like the Swedish Innovation Readiness Level. These initiatives will move the nation from dependence to innovation as transformation cannot be achieved without science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and an increased participation of Nigerians across Nigerian universities, research centres, and industries will drive sustainable technological growth.

NASENI’s deliberate investments in innovations has reflected an understanding that empowering young men and women in science, technology and innovation (STI) is not charity, but rather a smart economic and sound nation-building step.  These initiatives by NASENI have not only honoured achievements but also enforced diversity of thoughts and experiences to strengthen the nation’s capacity to innovate.

In the area of skill acquisition NASENI has empowered thousands of youths across states of the federation for upscaling of their skills in order to promote employment and self-reliance. The Agency has previously carried out the exercises in eleven (11) States of the Federation, totaling about 1100 youths altogether trained nationwide in various vocations ranging from Electrical Installations and Maintenance, Modern Auto-mechanics and Diagnostics, Solar Installations and Maintenance, Modern Tailoring and Installations of Plaster of Paris, popularly known as POP.

The foresight by the Federal Government to directly impact the youths through NASENI has been impressive. The Agency has been working to ensure that Nigeria’s teeming youths develop modern skills that will create jobs and self-employment, and reverse engineering for the industrial development of the country.