The federal government is rolling out 41 university-based innovation hubs, known as UniPods, as part of a broader strategy to reposition Nigeria from a resource-dependent economy to one powered by knowledge and technology.
Tunji Alausa, minister of education, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, following engagements with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and vice-chancellors of seven universities on the UNDP Innovation Hub programme.
Alausa said the UniPods initiative is designed to push research output beyond academic journals, converting scholarly discoveries into viable businesses, jobs, and quantifiable economic value-an outcome he tied directly to President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy.
He described education, technology, and research as central pillars for hitting that target, positioning the university hubs as an economic infrastructure play rather than a purely academic one.
Of the planned 41 hubs, eight have either been commissioned or are set for inauguration. Three are already running: at the University of Lagos, Nasarawa State University, and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.
The hubs are being tailored to regional economic strengths, including: Blue Economy UniPod, Akwa Ibom State; AgroTech UniPod, Benue State University; Resilience Tech UniPod, Borno State; GovTech UniPod, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; and Industrial Tech UniPod, Plateau State.
Alausa stressed that the initiative’s success would be judged by the commercial solutions and business opportunities it produces, not by the physical facilities built. He called on tertiary institutions to move away from a research culture geared toward academic promotion, urging a pivot toward commercialising laboratory discoveries.
‘UniPods must turn research and innovation into jobs, investment, and real economic impact,’ the minister said.