FG moves to reshape Nigeria’s 339 innovation hubs with new framework

The Federal Government, through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), is developing a National Innovation Hub Standards Framework to establish common standards for innovation hubs across Nigeria and strengthen their capacity to support startups, entrepreneurs and technology-driven businesses.

NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed this at the National Innovation Hub Standards Framework Validation Workshop in Abuja, where he said the framework would help create stronger and more sustainable innovation ecosystems across the country.

Inuwa noted that NITDA has identified more than 339 innovation hubs across Nigeria, although a significant proportion are concentrated in Lagos, Abuja and about 10 other states.

The proposed framework is designed to provide innovation hubs with a structured pathway for assessing their capabilities, identifying gaps and improving their level of maturity, as the Federal Government seeks to decentralise Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem beyond Lagos, Abuja and a few other states.

What they are saying

According to Inuwa, the framework is not intended to impose rigid requirements on innovation hub operators.

Instead, it would serve as a guide that enables hubs to assess their current capabilities, identify weaknesses and determine the steps required to improve their operations and services.

He said the draft framework contains seven key dimensions and about 35 assessment categories through which innovation hubs can evaluate their capabilities and determine their level of development.

• “Innovation does not happen in isolation; it happens in an ecosystem. And that ecosystem does not happen by accident; it happens by design,” Inuwa said.

According to him, some hubs outside the established innovation centres are still operating primarily as training centres and require additional support to transition into full-fledged innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship centres.

The proposed framework is therefore expected to provide a basis for strengthening hubs according to their individual capabilities and development needs.

Rather than attempting to replicate one model across Nigeria, Inuwa said innovation ecosystems should be developed around the unique strengths, challenges and economic opportunities of individual communities.

This approach, he said, would allow different communities to build innovation ecosystems that respond to their local economic realities while creating opportunities for young Nigerians to develop solutions within their communities.

Need for private sector investment

Inuwa stressed that government alone cannot sustainably finance the growth of startups and emerging businesses, calling for greater private sector participation in providing risk capital.

• He identified talent, risk capital, large corporate organisations and government as key pillars of a functional innovation ecosystem and said stronger collaboration among these stakeholders would be necessary to build a sustainable digital economy.
• He also called for stronger collaboration between universities and industry, arguing that higher institutions should play a more active role in the innovation ecosystem through research, entrepreneurship, digital skills development and industry partnerships.

Inuwa disclosed that NITDA is already working with the Federal Ministry of Education to integrate digital skills into formal education, with the aim of producing graduates equipped to participate meaningfully in the digital economy.

The NITDA DG described the National Innovation Hub Standards Framework as a draft and called on hub founders, investors, development partners, government institutions, academia and other stakeholders to contribute their expertise to its refinement.

Get up to speed

In a move similar to the objectives of the NITDA’s framework, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, in partnership with The Nest Innovation Technology Park, recently launched the Nigeria Innovation Cluster Exchange (NICE), a national initiative designed to strengthen collaboration across Nigeria’s fragmented innovation ecosystem.

Funded by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub under the UK Government’s Digital Access Programme and implemented by The Nest Innovation Technology Park, the pilot programme seeks to connect Entrepreneurship Support Organisations (ESOs), research institutions, startups and government agencies into a coordinated national innovation network.

According to the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem has grown rapidly over the years, but many incubators, accelerators, research centres and innovation hubs continue to operate independently, resulting in duplicated efforts and limited support for startups.

What you should know

A recent Nairametrics report captured the distribution of tech hubs in the country, with Lagos recording over 20 hubs.

Though not equally distributed, the report also shows that several cities outside Lagos, and even Abuja, have been building innovation infrastructure quietly, consistently, and in some cases for over a decade, and producing engineers, founders and funded companies that the Lagos-only narrative does not account for.