The Federal Government, through the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), has unveiled a ₦75 million innovation challenge aimed at empowering young inventors to transform their ideas into scalable businesses, thereby addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria.
The initiative, launched in partnership with AfriLabs, was announced on Thursday during the GITEX Nigeria Startup Festival in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, Anas Balarabe Yazid, Special Adviser on Commercialisation to NASENI’s Executive Vice-Chairman, said the programme seeks to discover and nurture indigenous innovations.
“The initiative is designed to find, fund, and fast-track the best homegrown products into solutions that work locally and can scale globally,” Yazid explained.
He urged young innovators to seize the opportunity, noting that submissions need not be flawless.
“If you’ve built something that works, even if it’s rough around the edges, this stage is for you,” he said.
How the Competition Works
- Five innovations will be shortlisted from each state and the FCT.
- The public will then vote to select state winners.
- Finalists will pitch their solutions at the NASENI Invention Festival.
Winners will not only receive cash rewards but also gain access to NASENI’s Innovation Hub in Abuja, equipped with technical resources, laboratories, and manufacturing facilities to further develop their projects.
Yazid stressed the importance of state-level collaboration, revealing that governors and the FCT minister have been invited to complement NASENI’s efforts.
“The seed planted here can grow right at home,” he said, urging state governments to provide matching support for their innovators.
On the broader vision, he added:
“Build here, sell to the world. Innovation lives in every LGA — let’s give it a lift. With the right support, Nigerian ingenuity becomes Nigerian industry.”
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 4.3% in Q2 2024, though updated figures are yet to be released.
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