The Federal Government has launched a ₦75 million innovation challenge to help young Nigerian inventors transform their ideas into thriving enterprises, as part of efforts to combat unemployment.
The initiative, spearheaded by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) in partnership with AfriLabs, was unveiled at the GITEX Nigeria Startup Festival in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, Anas Balarabe Yazid, Special Adviser on Commercialisation to the Executive Vice-Chairman of NASENI, said the challenge is designed to “find, fund, and fast-track homegrown products into solutions that work locally and scale globally.”
The competition will shortlist five innovations from each state and the FCT. Winners, chosen partly through public votes, will then pitch their ideas at the NASENI Invention Festival. Successful participants will not only receive cash prizes but also access to NASENI’s state-of-the-art innovation hub in Abuja, complete with laboratories and manufacturing facilities.
“This is about building here and selling to the world,” Yazid said, encouraging states to provide additional support to innovators.
The initiative comes as Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, with experts stressing that innovation and entrepreneurship are vital to creating jobs.
