For decades, Nigeria’s challenge has not been a shortage of ideas. From universities and research institutions to technology hubs and workshops, Nigerians have continued to develop solutions to problems confronting the country. The bigger challenge has been turning those ideas into products, factories, businesses and jobs.
It is against this background that the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) is implementing the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration by moving Nigerian innovations from laboratories to the factory floor and into the marketplace.
A visit to the Agency by members of the Presidential Renewed Hope Media Tour offered a glimpse into how that ambition is taking shape. The team, comprising members of the Presidential Communications Team, government officials, journalists and private-sector partners, toured several NASENI facilities in Abuja on August 4, 2026, as part of a nationwide exercise to showcase projects and policies of the Tinubu administration to the public.
What the team encountered ranged from locally assembled electric vehicles, e-tricycles and drones to solar technologies, agricultural innovations, rapid diagnostic kits and advanced reverse-engineering equipment. For the officials who participated in the tour, the developments showcased domestic industrial capacity to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported technologies.
Special Adviser to the President on Communication, Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who spoke on behalf of the Presidential Media Team, described what he saw at NASENI in three words: ‘impressive, impressive, impressive.’ According to him, the technologies demonstrated the capabilities of Nigerian youths to perform at a high level when given the right leadership, institutional support and environment.
The visit also provided NASENI’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Khalil Suleiman Halilu, an opportunity to explain the thinking behind the agency’s transformation over the past three years. Halilu said NASENI was moving away from the traditional perception of a research institution whose work ends with the production of prototypes.
Instead, he said the Agency is increasingly focusing on technology transfer, adaptation, domestication, strategic partnerships and commercialisation anchored on NASENI’s ‘3Cs’ principles of Creation, Collaboration and Commercialization.
The objective is to create indigenous solutions, collaborate with local and international partners and ensure that successful innovations are commercialised. But Halilu cautioned against interpreting local content as an obligation to manufacture every component of every product in Nigeria. He argued that such an approach would be impractical in a global economy where even the world’s biggest technology companies rely on complex international supply chains.
For NASENI, he explained, the priority is to identify Nigeria’s areas of comparative advantage, build technical capacity around them and use partnerships to fill the gaps. The approach is expected to create jobs, reduce production time, lower import dependence and add value to the economy. The Agency’s presentation to the media team showed that its activities now span more than eight industrial sectors, with projects and partnerships covering the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Among the most prominent is the NASENI-Troment factory in Idu, Abuja, where the Agency is supporting local production of rapid diagnostic kits to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported rapid-test kits by about 80 per cent, while creating local capacity for continued innovation in medical technology.
The Agency is also taking the industrialisation drive into renewable energy. At Gora in Nasarawa State, it is developing a 40-hectare Solar Industrial Park designed to support domestic solar manufacturing at scale. Other initiatives include CNG conversion and refilling facilities in Abuja, as well as a solar streetlight production partnership in Ogun State.
The projects are coming at a time when Nigeria is searching for ways to address its energy challenges while reducing the cost of doing business. NASENI’s electric mobility programme is another area receiving attention. During the media tour, visitors were shown locally assembled electric vehicles, e-tricycles and e-bikes as part of efforts to develop domestic capacity in the emerging clean-transport industry.
The Agency’s also highlighted partnerships with foreign governments and technology companies as an important part of its strategy. Through the DELTA-2 programme, Nigeria is collaborating with the Czech Republic on technology transfer and applied research. It is also deepening collaboration on technology transfer for a coal-based fertiliser plant and deepening collaboration with universities, industries and development partners.
At its facilities, visitors were exposed to drone technologies being developed for surveillance, agriculture, building washing, precision flight and drone shows. Some surveillance drones have been developed with capabilities for precise take-off, return and landing, while agricultural drones can be programmed to undertake autonomous crop spraying. NASENI has also trained drone pilots, including female engineers, and is positioning its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs) training facilities to provide skills for government personnel, farmers and other users.
Beyond drones, its other strategic technology programme includes defence and security applications, with the Defence Equipment Reverse Engineering Centre in Bwari focused on local repair and reproduction of critical equipment with the objective to strengthen Nigeria’s technological sovereignty in areas where dependence on foreign suppliers could have security implications.
Perhaps one of the clearest demonstrations of NASENI’s industrial strategy was the visit to its Centre of Excellence, where advanced reverse-engineering and precision-manufacturing equipment are being produced for industrial components. A seven-axis scanner at the Centre has an accuracy of between two and three microns and can capture physical components and convert them into computer-aided design files.
That capability allows engineers to reproduce components more rapidly, improve accuracy and reduce human error. The centre can also receive samples from industries, reverse-engineer them and produce customised moulds for mass production. For Nigerian manufacturers, the implication is potentially significant. Instead of waiting for imported components or sending damaged parts abroad for reproduction, local industries can increasingly rely on domestic engineering capacity.
The Agency is also applying the concept of local production to industrial waste. Scrap iron generated from its operations is recycled through an in-house furnace and converted into new products, including horseshoes. The process, NASENI said, is part of its zero-waste manufacturing approach, turning what would ordinarily be industrial waste into productive inputs.
The transformation being pursued by NASENI is not limited to machinery and factories. It is also investing in the people expected to operate and sustain Nigeria’s future industrial economy. Its FutureMakers Programme focuses on exposing children between five and 16 years to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Programmes such as DELT-Her and SheFly are aimed at increasing the participation of women in engineering, drone technology and research. NASENI also operates skill acquisition initiatives and the InnovateNaija Challenge, which it says has a N500 million prize fund to identify, support and commercialise promising Nigerian innovations.
Halilu said innovators are screened through an online platform and successful applicants receive mentorship and connections to factories and other partners capable of helping them scale their ideas. This emphasis on scaling is crucial to NASENI’s new direction.
That is why the Agency has also established NASENI HoldCo as its commercial and investment vehicle and created the NASENI Showroom to connect indigenous technologies with investors, businesses and consumers. It is equally using research commercialisation grants to support the transition of academic research into market-ready products.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the developments at NASENI deserved greater public attention. He called on the media to communicate government achievements more effectively, while acknowledging that much more still needed to be done. Idris cited investments in renal and cancer treatment centres and other interventions as examples of developments that should be brought to the attention of Nigerians.
He urged the media to intensify coverage of government programmes and promote informed public discourse, saying political differences should not be allowed to overshadow national development. Other members of the Presidential Communications Team also called for stronger government patronage of Nigerian technologies.
Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, stressed the importance of strategic communication, increased public-sector patronage and greater visibility for Nigerian innovations. Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, described the NASENI visit as a ‘massive eye-opener’, adding that NASENI’s contribution to strengthening the Nigeria First Policy would ensure public expenditure helps build domestic industrial capacity.
The Agency’s leadership says its ultimate objective is not simply to produce technologies but to create sustainable businesses around them. Its six strategic areas include innovation, clean energy, made-in-Nigeria manufacturing, food systems, future skills and strategic technologies. The common thread is industrialisation.
The Presidential Renewed Hope Media Tour presented NASENI not simply as another government agency occupying a more direct position in Nigeria’s industrialisation process.
NASENI’s emerging model is based on a simple proposition: Nigeria does not have to produce everything itself, but it must develop the capacity to produce what it can, master the technologies it acquires, build partnerships around its strengths and ensure that innovation contributes directly to economic growth. The facilities visited by the media team suggest that the process has begun to ensure the factories, jobs, exports and businesses that can make industrialisation a measurable reality for Nigerians.