The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has identified more than 339 innovation hubs nationwide, a significant number of them concentrated in Lagos, Abuja and about 10 other states.

NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed this while speaking in Abuja at the validation workshop for the National Innovation Hub Standards Framework.

He noted that the concentration of hubs in a few major cities meant that many talented Nigerians elsewhere still lacked access to funding, mentorship, networks, infrastructure and other resources needed to turn ideas into sustainable businesses.

“We have an abundance of talented and entrepreneurial young people, but many still lack access to funding, networks, mentorship, infrastructure and other support systems needed to translate their ideas into sustainable businesses,” he said.

Inuwa disclosed that NITDA is working on a framework aimed at bringing greater structure and consistency to innovation hubs across the country.

He said the proposed National Innovation Hub Standards Framework would help hubs assess their capabilities, identify gaps and improve their operations without imposing rigid requirements on them.

“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.

The NITDA boss said the proposed framework would encourage hubs to develop around the unique strengths and economic opportunities of their respective communities rather than simply reproduce the model of major technology centres.

He explained that some hubs outside the established innovation centres were still largely operating as training facilities and needed support to develop into full-fledged innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship centres.

The framework, according to him, contains seven key dimensions and about 35 assessment categories through which hubs can measure their level of development and identify areas requiring improvement.

Inuwa also stressed that government could not alone provide the risk capital needed to sustain startups, calling for stronger private-sector participation.

He further advocated closer collaboration between universities and industry, saying higher institutions must become active participants in the innovation ecosystem through research, entrepreneurship, digital skills and industry partnerships.

NITDA, he disclosed, is already working with the Federal Ministry of Education to integrate digital skills into formal education.

The proposed framework is expected to help decentralise Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem and give young people outside the country's major technology centres greater access to the facilities, networks and support needed to develop and scale technology-driven businesses.

The bigger question now is whether the new framework will succeed in moving Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem beyond a few major cities and into the communities where much of the country’s untapped talent resides.

•PHOTO: Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, alongside the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, and other stakeholders at the Draft National Innovation Hub Standard Framework Validation Workshop in Abuja.