*Nigeria’s National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure activates FutureMakers by its Virtual Hackathon and Pitch sessions, involving 60 participants August 17, 2026, across the country
Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect
The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) says it is set to kick-start the FutureMakers by NASENI Virtual Hackathon and Pitch sessions Monday, August 17, 2026.
NASENI noted the sessions involves 60 participants drawn from all six geopolitical zones of the West African country.
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The programme, which NASENI Innovation Hub is organising, will hold the Virtual Hackathon from Monday 17 – Friday 21 August, 2026, while the pitch sessions will take place from Monday 24 – Wednesday 26 August, 2026.
The agency said the pitch sessions would be streamed live on YouTube and Facebook.
It stated the virtual hackathon, a five-day virtual build sprint, would see 60 shortlisted innovators selected from thousands of entries received in the competition, develop working solutions against their zone’s challenge statement, supported by technical facilitators and mentors.
Innovators that advance from the hackathon progress to the Pitch Sessions.
On the other hand, the pitch sessions will see advancing innovators present their solutions to a panel of judges and industry leaders; and will be streamed live on YouTube and Facebook. Winners from each zone will win ₦ 1.5 million, ₦1 million and ₦500,000 each respectively, according to NASENI.
It further explained that the six top winners from each zone will pitch at the NASENI Invention Fest, and stand a chance to win N5 million, a study tour abroad, and scholarships to two leading universities in Nigeria fully funded.
Mr. Chima Akwaja, Deputy Director Information at NASENI, Sunday, August 16, 2026, stated Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO of NASENI, said: “FutureMakers Week is the culminating moment of the programme cycle, where months of outreach and selection turn into built solutions and backed ventures.
“Sixty innovators, six zones, six challenges: the programme is deliberately national in reach and local in problem definition.”
Busola Beckley Perez-Folayan, Hub Manager, NASENI Innovation Hub, also stated: “This talent pipeline is not a one-off competition.
“Winners gain SparkLab access, mentorship, training and scholarship pathways alongside the ₦5,000,000 prize.”
Halilu said: “The virtual format widens access to innovators beyond Abuja and Lagos.
“This is a working demonstration of government-backed innovation infrastructure delivering for young Nigerians.”
The programme sits within NASENI’s mandate to move Nigeria from a consumer economy to a producer economy.
Its defining feature is a zone-by-zone design: each of the six geopolitical zones works on a challenge drawn from its own lived reality, rather than a single national brief.
FutureMakers by NASENI is delivered in collaboration with academic and ecosystem partners including MIVA Open University and the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja.
The NASENI Innovation Hub is a member of the AfriLabs network.
Launched on December 11, 2026, FutureMakers by NASENI identifies, equips and backs early-stage Nigerian innovators aged 5–16, building technology-driven solutions to the development challenges facing their own regions, and connects them to NASENI’s engineering, prototyping and commercialisation infrastructure.