Tinubu to give NASENI innovators N300m+ in prize grants

President Bola Tinubu will on Wednesday (today) present prize grants to winners of innovation competitions organised by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

The presentation will take place at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, as part of efforts to support innovators in turning their ideas into businesses.

The competitions are the InnovateNaija, FutureMakers by NASENI, and Intra-Inter Agency Innovation Competitions.

According to NASENI, the competitions were organised to identify innovative ideas with the potential to become commercial ventures, create jobs and contribute to Nigeria’s technological and industrial development.

Tinubu is expected to receive the national winner of FutureMakers, three final national and regional winners of InnovateNaija, and six winners of the Intra-Inter Agency Innovation Competitions.

The winners will receive cash grants to enable them to develop their ideas from the early stages into commercial ventures.

Ahead of the presentation, zonal champions in the InnovateNaija and FutureMakers competitions will participate in final pitching exercises today at the Innovate Hub, NASENI headquarters, Idu Industrial Area, Abuja.

In FutureMakers, six young innovators selected from 60 participants who emerged from the zonal competition will compete for the national prize of N5 million and other opportunities to support their innovation projects.

The programme targets young Nigerians aged five to 16 and is designed to encourage them to develop technology-based solutions to real-life problems.

For InnovateNaija, three national winners will emerge from the 37 state winners that reached the final stage.

The overall winner will receive N100 million, while the second and third-place winners will get N30 million and N20 million respectively to develop their ideas into commercial ventures.

NASENI also said six winners of its Intra-Inter Agency Innovation Competitions would receive prizes totalling N162.5 million.

Of the amount, N140 million will go to three winners from the MDAs competition, while N22.5 million will be shared by three winners from the Intra-Agency competition.

NASENI said the competitions represented its effort to encourage innovation and help promising ideas move from the concept stage to products and businesses capable of contributing to economic growth and job creation.

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