InnovateNaija Challenge: NASENI’s N250m Competition Shaping Nigeria’s Infrastructure Future

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The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has taken different important measurement to boost innovation successful the state with the caller motorboat of the InnovateNaija Challenge, a nationwide question designed to observe and empower the nation’s brightest minds.

The motorboat of this originative thought during the important gathering of the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) 2025 successful Lagos was singular arsenic the inaugural was designed for the aboriginal of Nigerian innovation and the cardinal facet is that it is powered by its younker who volition vie and show their immense talents.

With an awesome full prize excavation of N250 million, this contention is acceptable to go Nigeria’s largest showcase of homegrown products successful science, engineering, and manufacturing. The expansive prize victor volition beryllium awarded a whopping N100 cardinal assistance to crook their groundbreaking thought into a reality.

The challenge, a superb involution by the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Khalil Suleiman Haliliu, kicked disconnected connected September 4, 2025, astatine GITEX Nigeria held astatine the Landmark Event Center successful Lagos. InnovateNaija by this originative measurement is much than a competition; it is simply a nationwide hunt for the adjacent procreation of manufacture leaders.

With this initiative, NASENI has opened opportunities for young Nigerians who are invited to taxable their astir originative inventions and products via engaging video entries to vie for a spot successful this monumental event. Innovators tin use and find much accusation here.

The excitement volition unfold implicit 3 thrilling months, structured successful 2 dynamic phases:
● Phase 1: Thirty-six innovators, 1 from each authorities and the FCT volition beryllium selected done a blend of nationalist voting and adept review. Each of these authorities winners volition unafraid a N2.5 cardinal assistance to assistance beforehand their innovations.
● Phase 2: The apical 15 innovators volition gain their spot astatine the expansive finale: the NASENI Invention Fest successful Abuja successful February 2026. Here, they volition contiguous their products to a sheet of adept judges and cardinal stakeholders. The stakes are immense, arsenic the apical 3 nationalist winners volition beryllium chosen, with the eventual champion taking location the N100 cardinal assistance to standard their solution.

In parallel with the challenge, InnovateNaija marks the pre-launch of the NASENI Innovation Hub. This cutting-edge installation is designed to span the spread betwixt superb ideas and market-ready products. By providing captious infrastructure, mentorship, capableness building, and funding, the hub volition service arsenic the eventual launchpad, transforming innovators into entrepreneurs and sparking a caller epoch of collaboration and maturation successful Nigeria’s tech ecosystem.
“We are committed to fostering an situation wherever these innovations tin thrive,” Halilu said.
“The InnovateNaija Challenge is an unthinkable accidental to identify, empower, and enactment Nigeria’s astir promising young innovators. Our Innovation Hub is designed to fortify probe and improvement with a wide absorption connected advancing Nigeria’s s technological capabilities and promoting homegrown solutions, not conscionable for Nigeria, but for each of Africa,” helium added.
The NASENI boss, who embodies the ideals of the Agency and its thrust to exposure and exploit the boundless talents of the country’s youth, said it was aimed astatine breaking the rhythm of deficiency of accidental for the younker and to assistance them recognize their dreams.

He said, “Today, we are breaking that cycle, with the motorboat of InnovateNaija present astatine GITEX Nigeria. We are not conscionable unveiling a competition, we are igniting a movement, a question that empowers, funds, and accelerates Nigerian ingenuity.”

With N250 cardinal successful funding, including a N100 cardinal expansive prize, Innovate Naija is Nigeria’s biggest innovation challenge, and 1 of the largest successful West Africa. It is powered by NASENI, backed by the Presidency, and supported by AfriLabs, the largest innovation hub web successful Africa.

According to Halilu, this is not conscionable astir prizes. It’s astir belief, content that Nigerian solutions tin lick Nigerian problems. Belief that Nigerian younker tin alteration necessity into invention, and invention into scalable businesses. NASENI’s relation is simply a catalyst, creating the close environment, resources, and partnerships for innovation to thrive.

Through the NASENI Innovation Hub, the Agency is gathering infrastructure, mentorship, and backing opportunities that volition nurture homegrown solutions into world-class enterprises. NASENI is not lone looking inward, but besides outward to presumption Nigeria arsenic a continental person successful exertion transfer, industrialization, and youth-led innovation.
The thrust of this inaugural is to spell beyond the borders of Nigeria arsenic Africa’s aboriginal depends connected collaboration. It is simply a proven information that erstwhile a Nigerian innovator ...

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