Maryam Aminu
The Federal Government has thrown its weight behind six public servants whose locally developed innovations emerged as winners of the maiden National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) Innovation Assessment and Awards, with ₦162.5 million committed to help turn their ideas into commercially viable products.
The innovators, drawn from government agencies and NASENI’s institutes, were presented to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, CON, by NASENI’s Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu.
Receiving the delegation, Akume commended NASENI for creating an opportunity for public servants to demonstrate their capacity to develop practical solutions to some of Nigeria’s pressing challenges.
The SGF also praised the transparency of the competition’s evaluation process and assured NASENI of the Federal Government’s support in providing the necessary backing for the innovations to contribute to the country’s industrial development.
The awards, organised under the theme, “Driving Innovation, Accelerating Industrialization, Transforming Nigeria,” produced three winners in the Inter-Agency category and three others in NASENI’s Intra-Agency category.
The Inter-Agency winners received a combined ₦140 million development grant to prototype, scale and commercialise their innovations, while the top three NASENI staff in the Intra-Agency category shared ₦22.5 million in cash prizes.
Halilu said the initiative was designed to recognise the public servants working behind the scenes to advance Nigeria’s technological and industrial development.
“We realized that civil servants have been the ones behind this very amazing growth,” Halilu said. “That is why we dedicated funds and resources specifically for these innovators who are working hard in public service.”
He said the initiative was also part of NASENI’s drive to move research and innovation beyond laboratories and into practical solutions capable of addressing national needs in areas including security, energy and the economy.
According to him, the agency’s growing footprint, including more than 20 factories being facilitated and over 40 indigenous products developed, was supported by the commitment of public servants working across the system.
Under the Inter-Agency category, Mr. Idowu Ajigbon and his team from the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Abuja, won first position with a Tactical Deep Surveillance Wearable Jacket designed to improve real-time situational awareness, personnel safety and tactical communication for security agencies.
Mr. Temitope Badmus and his team from the Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology (NILEST), Zaria, took second place for their project on the extraction and development of NILEST-Tan for leather industries, aimed at supporting local production of leather-tanning chemicals and reducing production costs.
Third place went to Mr. Isaac Johnson Ajeh and his team from the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, for their project on the valorisation of plantain peel waste through the development and standardisation of high-potency Vitamin C.
In the Intra-Agency category, Mr. Yusuf Usman of NASENI Headquarters emerged first with NASENI MART, a multilingual digital e-commerce platform designed to connect consumers with made-in-Nigeria engineering products.
Mr. Benjamin Nweke of NASENI ELDI-Awka came second with a solar-powered standalone cooking station designed to provide clean and affordable cooking energy for food vendors.
Engr. Mikairu Aminu Abu of NASENI NSEL-Karshi placed third with an off-grid solar-powered cassava dryer aimed at reducing post-harvest losses and improving incomes for rural farmers.
Chairman of the Innovation Awards Committee and Director of Manufacturing Services at NASENI, Engr. Dr. Olayode A. Olasupo, said the competition attracted 678 registrations through an online portal developed by NASENI’s ICT team.
Of the entries, 261 were completed, comprising 180 intra-agency and 81 inter-agency submissions covering areas such as engineering design, software development, renewable energy, healthcare and agriculture.
Olasupo said the entries went through a two-stage screening process involving computer-assisted compliance checks and expert technical evaluation before 20 finalists were selected to pitch their innovations physically at NASENI headquarters.
The finalists subsequently defended their technical and commercial propositions before independent assessors drawn from industry and academia.
Head of the NASENI Innovation Hub, Mrs. Busola Perez-Folayan, said the winning innovators would receive tailored incubation support, business development assistance and investor-matching opportunities to help move their ideas from award-winning concepts to scalable products.
Halilu said the initiative was anchored on NASENI’s three core principles of Creation, Collaboration and Commercialisation, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that promising Nigerian innovations translate into solutions that can be produced, marketed and used.
The presentation to the SGF marked another step in NASENI’s effort to give public-sector innovators greater visibility and resources while supporting the Federal Government’s broader push for home-grown technology and industrial development.
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