The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is moving to expand Nigeria’s innovation hub ecosystem beyond Lagos and Abuja as it works to establish national standards for innovation hubs across the country.
NITDA, through its subsidiary, the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), disclosed this on Thursday during a stakeholder validation session on the draft National Innovation Hub Standards Framework in Abuja.
Speaking at the session, NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said deliberate planning and stronger support structures are needed to create innovation hubs that can help entrepreneurs develop and scale their ideas.
He described innovation hubs as important spaces where founders, businesses, government and investors can work together to transform local ideas into scalable products and businesses.
NITDA targets Lagos and Abuja dominance in Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem
Nigeria currently has 339 innovation hubs, but a significant proportion are concentrated in Lagos and Abuja, leaving entrepreneurs and innovators in other parts of the country with fewer opportunities to access the infrastructure, networks, mentorship and investment available within established tech ecosystems.
Inuwa said the concentration makes it harder for innovators outside the two major technology centres to access the support needed to develop their ideas, while also encouraging founders and young technology talent to relocate to Lagos or Abuja in search of opportunities.
To address this imbalance, the proposed framework will provide a common structure for assessing and developing innovation hubs while allowing them to respond to the needs of their respective regions.
The framework contains seven dimensions and 35 criteria that hubs can use to assess their development and identify areas for improvement.
NITDA said the broader objective is to create stronger regional innovation clusters across Nigeria, allowing founders to build and scale businesses within their local ecosystems instead of having to relocate to Lagos or Abuja.
Inuwa also called on investors, development partners and academic institutions to contribute to the validation process, stressing that stronger collaboration between universities and industry would be necessary to develop the talent required to sustain Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem.
What the National Innovation Hub Standards Framework wants to achieve
The draft National Innovation Hub Standards Framework is designed to establish clear operational standards for innovation hubs across Nigeria and provide a structured way to assess their capacity, growth and effectiveness.
Rather than having hubs operate without a common benchmark, the framework seeks to create standards that can help hubs strengthen their infrastructure, improve the support they provide to entrepreneurs and adapt their operations to the realities of their respective regions.
The framework also fits into a broader effort to make Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem less concentrated around its traditional technology centres by encouraging the development of regional clusters where entrepreneurs can access support closer to home.
The need for stronger innovation communities is particularly visible among students, many of whom have access to emerging technology skills but lack direct pathways to mentors, funding, industry networks and career opportunities.
This gap has also prompted TechMedia Africa to launch Students in Tech, a new nationwide community platform designed to connect Nigerian students with careers, funding, mentorship and opportunities in the country’s technology ecosystem, with the goal of bridging the gap between campus talent and industry opportunity.