The outgoing year 2025 has been a very impactful year in the history of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) as the Agency under the leadership of its Executive Vice Chairman, Khalil Suleiman Halilu, has embarked on significant projects and programmes with immense impacts on the Nigerian economy.
NASENI began the year in 2025 on the back of the launch of 40 plus commercial products in 2024. Among the key projects embarked upon include Groundbreaking of The Sustainable and Emerging Technologies Institute (SETI) in Bayero University, Kano (BUK). It is a project that sits on 30 hectares of land with state-of-the-art facilities, which includes innovation hub devoted to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other cutting-edge technologies complemented by reliable power supply.
In February 2025, the Agency launched the Irrigate Nigeria Project, a transformative initiative designed to enhance mechanised farming and enable farmers to achieve three farming cycles annually at Tiamin Rice Farm, Udubo, Gamawa Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The project was jointly implemented by NASENI and the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund (RHIDF), with participation of the private sector, in line with President Tinubu’s commitment to fully empowering and enabling Nigeria’s private sector.
The project has the potential to revolutionize Nigerian agriculture and enable farmers to have three harvests in a year compared to the traditional single season harvest as well as enhance food security.
Four key features of Irrigate Nigeria include the deployment of centralised NASENI irrigation systems to support farming clusters in the participating communities, the provision of input – enhanced seeds and fertilizers – and technical support to the participating farmers, to complement the provision of irrigation equipment and the specialized nature of the commercial model, aimed at ensuring commercial viability and long-term sustainability.
The project’s goal is to enhance food security and this has the potential of equipping farmers with modern irrigation systems and dry season farming tools which enables year-round productivity.
In March, NASENI embarked on the construction of several new development institutes across the federation including the Industrial Equipment and Machinery Development Institute in Maiduguri, Borno State; the Engineering Materials and Equipment Development Institute in Katsina, Katsina State; and Agricultural Machinery & Equipment Development Institutes in Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State; Aboh-Mbaise, Imo State; and Obudu, Cross River State.
Complementing these are NASENI Skill Acquisition Centres located in different parts of the country. Together, these facilities are designed to decentralize industrial development, build local technical capacity and stimulate regional economies by creating hubs of specialized knowledge and skills.
In June, following NASENI’s ambition to revamp agriculture mechanization, Vice President Kashim Shettima formally unveiled the National Asset Restoration programme in Maiduguri, Borno State, which marked the take-off of NASENI Tractor Recovery Project.
This initiative seeks to boost mechanised agriculture to enhance food security in fulfillment of the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda by reviving broken-down or non-functional tractors at the Borno State Agricultural Mechanisation (BOSAMA) Farm Centre in Maiduguri.
The project, fully funded, supervised and executed by NASENI was carried out with support from the Agency’s technical partner, Machine and Equipment Corporation Africa Limited (MECA), aimed at contributing meaningfully to the Federal Government’s development agenda.
In August, the Agency inaugurated its second NASENI–Portland Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station in Kubwa, Abuja, featuring an auto conversion centre, a training academy, and a gas refill station designed to reduce transportation costs, lower carbon emissions, and expand access to cleaner energy across Nigeria.
Same month, the Agency’s homegrown industrial push gained momentum when the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr. Jumoke Oduwole visited its facilities where she was amazed by the assemblage of machines, workshops, and laboratories, which made NASENI the beating pulse of a Made-in-Nigeria industrial renaissance.
Guided by Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, NASENI’s executive vice chairman, the Minister toured a string of facilities, the sleek NASENI Innovation Hub, the NASENI-TROMENT biotechnology facility and the expansive Abuja Industrial Park in Idu Industrial Area. Each stop revealed a vision brought to life: factories humming, engineers at work, and products proudly stamped “Made in Nigeria.”
The agenda focused on boosting domestic production, encouraging local consumption, and creating jobs through industrialization as NASENI currently has over 40 market-ready products capable of competing favourably in the global market, with more innovations underway.
In late August, NASENI launched InnovateNaija, Nigeria’s biggest innovation competition, with a prize pool of N250 million to support homegrown inventions in science, engineering, and manufacturing. The initiative, supported by AfriLabs, officially kicked off in September 4, 2025, at the GITEX Nigeria held at Landmark Event Centre, Lagos.
Designed to inspire and showcase the nation’s brightest minds, InnovateNaija identifies and funds transformative ideas capable of addressing Nigeria’s unique challenges and advancing technological growth.
Under the scheme, 37 state-level winners — one from each of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT — will be selected through public voting. Each will receive a N2.5 million grant to develop their innovations. The top 15 will progress to the grand finale at the NASENI Invention Fest in Abuja, February 2026, where they will pitch their solutions before expert judges and stakeholders. The overall winner will walk away with N100 million in funding.
Beyond the competition, NASENI also announced the pre-launch of its Innovation Hub in Abuja, aimed at bridging the support gap for innovators by providing infrastructure, mentorship, capacity building and funding opportunities. The NASENI Innovation Hub will nurture ideas into scalable solutions, advancing Nigeria’s technological capabilities.
In September, the Agency launched the NASENI Research Commercialization Grant Programme (NRCGP) to address financial and administrative setbacks often faced by research projects.
The NRCGP is designed to support viable research and development initiatives in the country, which also propagates NASENI’s mission and vision and the application process is fully digitalized, transparent, and does not require physical presence or long administrative procedures.
The NRCGP empowers prospective researchers from institutes who may seek guidance about the programme. Universities, the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), National Space Research and Development Agency (NSRDA), among others have taken full advantage of the opportunities provided by NASENI to foster collaboration and innovation.
The grant aligns with NASENI’s mandate to promote local content under its principle of Creation, Collaboration and Commercialization (3Cs), that is being radically prioritized. The idea is hinged on the fact that every research project must be noble, clear, market-viable, and align with the Agency’s transformation agenda and Nigeria’s broader development goals.
Still in September, the Agency in collaboration with the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) launched the second phase of the DELTA-2 Programme call for proposals.
The initiative, which is a bilateral partnership with the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR), ensures that research and development outcomes in Nigeria are commercialized to solve real-life problems, create jobs, and contribute to economic growth.
The DELTA-2 Programme was first introduced in 2022, when Nigerian innovators, researchers, and entrepreneurs were invited to submit project proposals in key sectors such as agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. That first call attracted about 284 proposals, out of which 25 projects were eventually selected for funding after a rigorous evaluation process.
In November, NASENI in partnership with PICTT granted the sum of N229 million to 14 awardees of the Developing Engineering Leaders Through Her (DELT-Her 2.0) initiative. According to the NASENI boss, the DELT-Her represents an opportunity platform through which women can turn bold engineering ideas into solutions that change the world.
Out of the 9,925 project proposals, 14 women engineers emerged as awardees, receiving N229 million in grant funding to advance their innovative projects across critical sectors such as agriculture, clean energy, health, mobility, digital security and environmental sustainability.
In November, the Agency unveiled its Innovation Hub, alongside the Future Makers by NASENI Programme, a national initiative designed to groom young Nigerians between 5 to 16 years as future technologists, problem solvers, and innovation leaders.
The Future Makers by NASENI programme aims to replicate such an impact for thousands of Nigerian children, cultivating young innovators by preparing their mindsets from an early age. Exposing children to technology and scientific curiosity at such early ages would equip them with the confidence and skills to compete globally.
The programme complements NASENI’s wider talent-development pipeline, including InnovateNaija for older youth, with the deliberate strategy to “catch them early,” just as promising athletes are discovered at very young ages.
Officials said these projects cut across priority sectors and would provide a platform for Nigerian innovators to scale their solutions into market-ready products. One of the striking features of these projects is their nationwide spread, ensuring that the impacts were not restricted to a single region but spread fairly across the federation.
Observers said this inclusivity was deliberate, with NASENI and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) emphasizing fairness and balance in opportunities, giving innovators a chance regardless of location.
Halilu has noted that these impactful projects and innovation initiatives have the potential to be catalysts for Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem, adding that the decision is already yielding results. With these enormous achievements, 2026 will be a year of more productivity for the Agency towards the realization of Nigeria’s industrial development.
