SGF Receives Six NASENI Innovation Winners as N162.5m Grants, Prizes Await Beneficiaries
By Pan Afric Reporters
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, has received six winners of the maiden National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) Innovation Assessment and Awards (NIAA), assuring the innovators of Federal Government support to transform their home-grown technologies into commercially viable solutions.
The Director, Information, New Media and Protocol, NASENI, Olusegun Ayeoyenikan, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, following the formal presentation of the winners to the SGF by NASENI’s Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Khalil Suleiman Halilu.
The NIAA, held under the theme, “Driving Innovation, Accelerating Industrialization, Transforming Nigeria,” produced three winners in the Inter-Agency category, who will share ₦140 million in development grants, while three winners in the Intra-Agency category received a combined ₦22.5 million in cash prizes.
Presenting the innovators to the SGF, Halilu said the initiative was designed to recognise and support public servants whose ideas could contribute to Nigeria’s technological advancement, economic development and national security.
“We realized that civil servants have been the ones behind this very amazing growth. That is why we dedicated funds and resources specifically for these innovators who are working hard in public service,” Halilu said.
He said NASENI’s growing footprint across the country, including more than 20 factories being facilitated and over 40 indigenous products developed, was driven significantly by the commitment and dedication of public servants working behind the scenes.
Halilu explained that the awards were anchored on NASENI’s core pillars of Creation, Collaboration and Commercialisation (3Cs), with the objective of moving research outputs from laboratories into practical, market-ready products capable of addressing national security, energy and economic challenges.
Chairman of the Innovation Awards Committee and Director of Manufacturing Services at NASENI, Engr. Dr Olayode A. Olasupo, said the competition attracted significant participation, with 678 users registering on the online submission portal developed by NASENI’s ICT team.
According to him, the registration produced 261 complete entries, 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 underwent a two-stage preliminary screening involving computer-based compliance checks and expert technical evaluation, after which 20 finalists—10 from each category—were selected for physical pitching at NASENI headquarters.
He said the finalists defended their technical and commercial propositions before an independent panel drawn from industry and academia, describing the process as transparent, fair and credible.
Under the Inter-Agency category, the first-place award went to Mr Idowu Ajigbon and his team from the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Abuja, for developing 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, emerged second with their Extraction and Development of NILEST-TAN for Leather Industries, aimed at promoting local production of leather tanning chemicals and reducing production costs.
The third position went to Mr Isaac Johnson Ajeh and his team from the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, for their project on Valorization of Plantain Peel Waste, which seeks to convert agricultural waste into high-potency Vitamin C pharmaceutical raw materials.
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 directly with made-in-Nigeria engineering products.
Mr Benjamin Nweke of NASENI ELDI-Awka took second position with a solar-powered standalone cooking station designed to provide clean, affordable and reliable cooking energy for food vendors.
Engr. Mikairu Aminu Abu of NASENI NSEL-Karshi emerged third with an off-grid solar-powered cassava dryer, aimed at improving post-harvest preservation and increasing rural farmers’ incomes.
The Head of NASENI Innovation Hub, Mrs Busola Perez-Folayan, said the Hub would provide the winning innovators with tailored incubation support, business development assistance and investor-matching services to help transform their ideas into scalable commercial products.
Receiving the delegation, Akume commended NASENI for what he described as its leadership and transparent evaluation process, while praising the ingenuity displayed by the participating public servants.
The SGF assured the innovators and NASENI of the Federal Government’s support in ensuring that the technologies receive the necessary backing to contribute to Nigeria’s industrial transformation.
He said the recognition of innovators within the public service demonstrated the importance of creating institutional platforms that encourage creativity, research and the development of indigenous solutions to national challenges.
