NASENI Marks Three Years of Transformation Under Khalil Halilu With 40+ Products and 50 Partnerships

The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has marked three years of institutional reforms under its Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Khalil Suleiman Halilu, highlighting progress in technology commercialisation, local manufacturing and industrial development.

Halilu assumed office in September 2023 and has since repositioned the agency around technology transfer and the commercialisation of Nigerian innovations in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

According to NASENI, the reforms are aimed at bridging the gap between research and industrial production by linking innovation, skilled manpower, financing, manufacturing and access to markets.

Marking the milestone on Friday, September 4, 2026, Halilu said Nigeria had no shortage of ideas or technical talent but needed a stronger system for transforming innovations into commercially viable products and industries.

“Nigeria has capable engineers, researchers and innovators. What has often been missing is a connected system that can identify promising ideas, develop them, finance them, manufacture them and take them to the market,” he said.

Institutional reforms

NASENI said its transformation began with reforms to its internal operations, including the establishment of Project Management and Implementation Management Offices, stronger audit and reporting systems, digitisation of processes and the introduction of an Enterprise Resource Planning system.

The agency also introduced frameworks focused on technology transfer, green industrial development and innovation commercialisation, built around what it described as the principles of Creation, Collaboration and Commercialisation.

Under the model, NASENI develops or adapts technologies, partners with institutions and businesses for expertise and investment, and takes viable innovations towards products, enterprises, factories and jobs.

From innovation to commercialisation

The agency said it has established an innovation-to-industry pipeline covering talent discovery, research funding, incubation, product development and market access.

Its initiatives include InnovateNaija, the NASENI Innovation Hub, Research Commercialisation Grant Programme, DELT-Her, FutureMakers, SheFly and the Reverse Japa Programme.

In 2025, NASENI awarded ₦229 million to 14 researchers under its research commercialisation programme, supporting projects in agriculture, clean energy, healthcare, mobility and digital security.

The agency said NASENI HoldCo is being positioned as a commercial vehicle for market-ready technologies, while its showroom provides a platform for investors, procurement institutions and the public to access locally developed products.

Over 40 products developed

NASENI said it has developed and introduced more than 40 products spanning renewable energy, agriculture, healthcare, mobility, information technology, clean cooking and education.

The portfolio includes solar irrigation pumps, solar home systems, solar streetlights, portable solar generators, batteries, electric vehicles, electric tricycles, CNG conversion solutions, smartphones, laptops, tablets, televisions, household appliances, rapid diagnostic kits, clean cookstoves and STEM learning tools.

The agency is also developing industrial platforms to support local manufacturing, testing and technology adaptation.

Among them is the 40-hectare Solar Industrial Park in Gora, Nasarawa State, which is being developed for solar research, manufacturing, testing and deployment.

NASENI DevFrontier is working on local production of solar streetlights, while NASRacks is being established to manufacture solar mounting structures.

Electric vehicles and CNG technology

In the transportation sector, NASENI said it is developing an electric vehicle assembly facility at Abuja Technology Village, including capacity for the production of the NASENI Electric Keke.

The agency has also established CNG conversion and reverse-engineering centres in Abuja to support the transition to cleaner and more affordable transportation.

NASENI said the CNG and electric mobility programmes were designed as complementary interventions, with CNG providing a near-term alternative while electric mobility develops longer-term engineering and supply-chain capacity.

Agriculture and health

The agency said its agricultural interventions include the Irrigate Nigeria Project, which deploys solar-powered irrigation systems to promote year-round farming.

It is also implementing a programme to restore and redeploy idle tractors and other public agricultural machinery, while agricultural incubation centres are being developed in partnership with the University of Abuja and Bayero University Kano.

In Kano, NASENI is implementing a coal-based fertiliser manufacturing project through bilateral technology transfer aimed at strengthening domestic fertiliser production.

In healthcare, the NASENI–Troment Rapid Diagnostics Factory in Abuja is being developed to strengthen local production of medical diagnostic products and reduce dependence on imports.

The agency is also building advanced manufacturing capacity at its Centre of Excellence for Precision Manufacturing in Abuja for sectors including aerospace, defence, automotive, renewable energy, electronics and medical devices.

Skills and technology partnerships
NASENI said its industrialisation strategy also places emphasis on skills development, with its Skills Acquisition Centres training young Nigerians in areas including electrical installation, solar technology, automotive maintenance and other productive trades.

It said programmes such as DELT-Her, SheFly and FutureMakers are expanding participation in engineering and emerging technologies.

Over the past three years, NASENI has established more than 50 local and international partnerships covering renewable energy, automotive technology, agriculture, healthcare, defence, aerospace, research and commercialisation.

The agency, however, said the success of such partnerships would ultimately be measured by technology transferred, skills developed, production capacity created, investment mobilised and products delivered rather than simply the number of agreements signed.

Focus shifts to scale

Looking ahead, NASENI said its next phase would focus on scaling commercial production, strengthening local content, improving standards and certification, increasing factory utilisation and expanding market adoption.

The agency said it would also measure its impact through indicators such as products produced and sold, jobs created, local suppliers engaged, import savings, people trained and employed, technologies transferred and private investment mobilised.

Halilu said the ultimate objective was to make NASENI an institution capable of helping Nigeria manufacture more of what it needs.

“I do not want NASENI to be remembered simply as an agency that installed equipment or launched projects. I want it to be recognised as the institution that helped Nigeria build the capacity to manufacture what it needs.”

NASENI acknowledged that while some of its factories and products are already operational, others remain at various stages of development, testing and commercialisation.

The agency said the distinction between completed projects, ongoing initiatives and future targets would remain central to its commitment to transparency and accountability.

Halilu said the transformation remained a work in progress but maintained that the direction was clear.

“Nigeria’s industrial future will be built through capable institutions, skilled people, competitive products and factories that produce. That is the system we are building at NASENI.”