NASENI Accelerates Industrialisation With 40 Products, 50 Partnerships

The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) said it has developed more than 40 products and secured over 50 local and international partnerships in three years as part of efforts to accelerate technology commercialisation and industrial development under its executive vice chairman and chief executive officer, Khalil Suleiman Halilu.

The agency disclosed this in a statement signed by Olusegun Ayeoyenikan, Director, Information, Protocol and New Media Unit, NASENI, as it marked three years of institutional transformation under Halilu’s leadership.

According to the statement, Halilu, who assumed office in September 2023, has repositioned NASENI towards technology transfer and commercialisation, with emphasis on bridging the gap between research, industrial production and the market.

Speaking on the milestone, Halilu said Nigeria had the capacity to innovate but needed a stronger system to move ideas from research to commercial production.

“Nigeria has capable engineers, researchers and innovators. What has often been missing is a connected system that can identify promising ideas, develop them, finance them, manufacture them and take them to the market. Closing that gap has defined our work at NASENI over the past three years,” he said.

The statement said the agency had introduced reforms including Project Management and Implementation Management Offices, stronger internal audit and reporting systems, digitised processes and an Enterprise Resource Planning system. It added that NASENI had also adopted a Creation, Collaboration and Commercialisation model and launched programmes such as InnovateNaija, the NASENI Innovation Hub and the Research Commercialisation Grant Programme.

It also noted that in 2025, the agency awarded N229 million to 14 researchers working in agriculture, clean energy, healthcare, mobility and digital security.

According to the statement, more than 40 products have emerged from the agency’s programmes, covering renewable energy, mobility, agriculture, healthcare, information technology, household appliances, clean cooking and education. They include solar irrigation pumps, solar home systems, solar streetlights, portable solar generators, batteries, electric vehicles, electric tricycles, CNG conversion solutions, smartphones, tablets, laptops, televisions and rapid diagnostic kits.

The statement further highlighted the 40-hectare Solar Industrial Park in Gora, Nasarawa State, the NASENI DevFrontier initiative for local solar streetlight production and NASRacks for solar mounting structures. It said NASENI had also developed an electric vehicle assembly facility at Abuja Technology Village and established CNG conversion and reverse-engineering capabilities to support local adaptation and skills development.

In agriculture and healthcare, the agency said its Irrigate Nigeria programme was deploying solar-powered irrigation, while projects were also underway to restore idle tractors and machinery and support fertiliser production. It cited the NASENI–Troment Rapid Diagnostics Factory in Abuja, the Centre of Excellence for Precision Manufacturing and its unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities as other initiatives aimed at strengthening local industrial and technological capacity.

Halilu said the next phase would focus on commercial production, local content, standards and certification, factory utilisation and market adoption.

“The number of products, projects or partnerships is important, but it is not the final measure of success. The real test is whether our products are adopted, our factories operate sustainably, our partnerships transfer useful capabilities, our trainees secure livelihoods and more value remain within the Nigerian economy,” he said.