*BEING A SPEECH DELIVERED BY DR. KAZEEM KOLAWOLE RAJI, FCIPM-UK, FPMA-UK, DIRECTOR GENERAL/CEO, NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNOLOGY INCUBATION (NBTI) AT THE LAUNCH OF THE NEXTGEN INNOVATION CHALLENGE 2025, ABUJA.* *THEME: “From Grassroots to Global Recognition: Igniting Nigeria’s Innovation Renaissance”* It is with immense pride and deep sense of purpose that I welcome you to the official launch of the NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025, a bold national technological movement and strategic intervention that heralds a new era of innovation, economic empowerment, and industrial transformation in Nigeria. Today, we are not merely unveiling a program. We are igniting a renaissance, a renaissance of ideas, invention, and inclusive prosperity, driven by the creativity of young Nigerians from every village, every ward, every city and every community across our land. This initiative is rooted in a renewed vision, a vision that aligns seamlessly with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, whose decisive leadership and Nigeria First policy have placed innovation, technology, industrialisation, and economic competitiveness at the forefront of national development. Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, in today’s global village, the frontier-knowledge elites, the elites of the technological and the digital revolutions, are the undisputable custodians of strategic and economic power. Today, our post-colonial national revenue generation model of an oil-export-only economy has been clearly shown to be unsustainable in the 21st Century. The obvious solution, as experts have pointed out, is to diversify the productive base of our national economy and urgently train and re-train our youths and national workforce technologically and digitally. This solution is, as can be easily seen, an undeniable integral programme of the ‘RENEWED HOPE AGENDA’ of the incumbent administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. Through Mr. President’s Renewed Hope administration’s historic decision to align Nigeria with the BRICS bloc and the Nigeria First Policy, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR has boldly declared that Nigeria will no longer remain at the periphery of global technological and economic discourse. Instead, we shall take our rightful place as a leader in technology, trade and innovation. Today, the NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 is our strategic response, our pathway to ensuring that our local ingenuity is scaled into global enterprise. The NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 is a National Technology Movement for the Bold and the Brilliant minds and it is not a mere competition; it is a clarion call to our youths to rise and lead. It is a platform designed to identify, nurture, and amplify the talents that often lie hidden in underserved communities—from the markets of Kano to the creeks of the Niger Delta, from rural farms to urban hubs. No idea is too small. No dream is too distant. Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we are deliberately reaching all 774 Local Government Areas, building an inclusive innovation pipeline that reflects the true diversity and the genius of Nigerians. Our mission is simple yet profound: empower grassroots inventors and Innovators to ascend the global stage. The clear objectives of our NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 include: • Empowerment: Provide resources, mentorship, and exposure to transform ideas into viable solutions. • Innovation: Encourage the development of technologies that address local and global challenges. • Collaboration: Build bridges between Innovators, investors, academia, and government. • Global Competitiveness: Position Nigeria as a hub for innovation and technological advancement. We know the journey from inspiration to innovation is often obstructed by lack of access i.e access to funding, to markets, to mentorship, and to opportunities. Through this initiative, NBTI in collaboration with UKALD and a coalition of national and international partners, are dismantling these barriers. We are providing structured support systems that connect local talents to mentorship, incubation, investment, and international visibility. Imagine a young inventor in Bauchi crafting a drone from recycled components for agricultural surveillance. Imagine a girl in Osogbo developing green mobility solutions from plastic waste. These stories are no longer outliers. They are the future of Nigeria’s economy, and it is our duty to fuel them with policy, resources, and unwavering support. The grand finale of this Challenge will take place in London, a global epicentre of finance, technology, and innovation. This is both symbolic and strategic. It marks our commitment to launching Nigerian innovations from the grassroots to global recognition, and placing our inventors and Innovators before international investors, venture capitalists, accelerators and collaborators. Let the World see what we already know that Nigerian youths are not just job seekers, they are job creators, technology builders, and solution providers for the world. To expand our global reach, we are also launching the NBTI Global App, a digital platform that will showcase approved inventions from across Nigeria to the world. From New York to Tokyo, from Johannesburg to Sydney, Nigerian-made technologies will now be visible, investable, and exportable. Our vision is very clear: to make Nigeria a global hub for innovation across key sectors. Therefore, The NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 will cover various sectors which include: • *Agriculture and Food Security* • *Renewable Energy and Climate Innovation* • *Clean and Hydrogen technologies* • *HealthTech and Biotechnology* • *3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Technology* • *ICT and Digital Infrastructure* • *Fintech* • *Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Robotics* • *Drone and Nano Technology, Smart Solutions and Embedded Systems* • *Mining technology solutions* • *Cybersecurity Solutions.* • *Software & Mobile App Development* • *Security and Defence Technologies* • *Smart Manufacturing and Industrialisation* • *Edu-Tech and Digital Skills Development* • *Smart Transportation and Mobility* • *Environment, waste, Flood and disaster management* Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, this Challenge is not about one event. It is about seeding a future, where Nigerian ideas lead global revolutions. To the private sector, development partners, venture capitalists, angel investors, multi-lateral institutions, diplomatic communities, national and international financial institutions, I say this, partner with our inventors and Innovators and invest in the future. Let’s co-create solutions that will redefine industries, elevate livelihoods, and catalyse our national growth. To our Nigerian diaspora, your knowledge, networks, and capital are invaluable. Come home, not just physically, but intellectually and strategically. *Be part of this Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.* To our young people, I say this with all my heart: You are the hope we believe in. You are the architects of a new Nigeria. The eagle, our national symbol, does not flee from the storm, it rides it. Likewise, in these challenging times, we shall rise above adversity on the wings of innovations. Let us rally behind this initiative with one voice, one vision, and one unwavering belief that the greatness of Nigeria lies in the genius of its people. *Arise Nigeria! Arise the Eagle! The Dawn of Renewed Hope is Here.* Thank you, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. *Dr KAZEEM KOLAWOLE RAJI, FCIPM-UK, FPMA-UK* *DIRECTOR GENERAL/CEO* *NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNOLOGY INCUBATION (NBTI).* *ABUJA.* *DATED THIS DAY 28TH MAY 2025.

BEING A SPEECH DELIVERED BY DR. KAZEEM KOLAWOLE RAJI, FCIPM-UK, FPMA-UK, DIRECTOR GENERAL/CEO, NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNOLOGY INCUBATION (NBTI) AT THE LAUNCH OF THE NEXTGEN INNOVATION CHALLENGE 2025, ABUJA.*

*THEME: “From Grassroots to Global Recognition: Igniting Nigeria’s Innovation Renaissance”*

It is with immense pride and deep sense of purpose that I welcome you to the official launch of the NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025, a bold national technological movement and strategic intervention that heralds a new era of innovation, economic empowerment, and industrial transformation in Nigeria.

Today, we are not merely unveiling a program. We are igniting a renaissance, a renaissance of ideas, invention, and inclusive prosperity, driven by the creativity of young Nigerians from every village, every ward, every city and every community across our land.
This initiative is rooted in a renewed vision, a vision that aligns seamlessly with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, whose decisive leadership and Nigeria First policy have placed innovation, technology, industrialisation, and economic competitiveness at the forefront of national development.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, in today’s global village, the frontier-knowledge elites, the elites of the technological and the digital revolutions, are the undisputable custodians of strategic and economic power. Today, our post-colonial national revenue generation model of an oil-export-only economy has been clearly shown to be unsustainable in the 21st Century. The obvious solution, as experts have pointed out, is to diversify the productive base of our national economy and urgently train and re-train our youths and national workforce technologically and digitally. This solution is, as can be easily seen, an undeniable integral programme of the ‘RENEWED HOPE AGENDA’ of the incumbent administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

Through Mr. President’s Renewed Hope administration’s historic decision to align Nigeria with the BRICS bloc and the Nigeria First Policy, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR has boldly declared that Nigeria will no longer remain at the periphery of global technological and economic discourse. Instead, we shall take our rightful place as a leader in technology, trade and innovation. Today, the NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 is our strategic response, our pathway to ensuring that our local ingenuity is scaled into global enterprise.

The NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 is a National Technology Movement for the Bold and the Brilliant minds and it is not a mere competition; it is a clarion call to our youths to rise and lead. It is a platform designed to identify, nurture, and amplify the talents that often lie hidden in underserved communities—from the markets of Kano to the creeks of the Niger Delta, from rural farms to urban hubs. No idea is too small. No dream is too distant.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we are deliberately reaching all 774 Local Government Areas, building an inclusive innovation pipeline that reflects the true diversity and the genius of Nigerians. Our mission is simple yet profound: empower grassroots inventors and Innovators to ascend the global stage.

The clear objectives of our NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 include:
• Empowerment: Provide resources, mentorship, and exposure to transform ideas into viable solutions.
• Innovation: Encourage the development of technologies that address local and global challenges.
• Collaboration: Build bridges between Innovators, investors, academia, and government.
• Global Competitiveness: Position Nigeria as a hub for innovation and technological advancement.

We know the journey from inspiration to innovation is often obstructed by lack of access i.e access to funding, to markets, to mentorship, and to opportunities. Through this initiative, NBTI in collaboration with UKALD and a coalition of national and international partners, are dismantling these barriers. We are providing structured support systems that connect local talents to mentorship, incubation, investment, and international visibility.

Imagine a young inventor in Bauchi crafting a drone from recycled components for agricultural surveillance. Imagine a girl in Osogbo developing green mobility solutions from plastic waste. These stories are no longer outliers. They are the future of Nigeria’s economy, and it is our duty to fuel them with policy, resources, and unwavering support.

The grand finale of this Challenge will take place in London, a global epicentre of finance, technology, and innovation. This is both symbolic and strategic. It marks our commitment to launching Nigerian innovations from the grassroots to global recognition, and placing our inventors and Innovators before international investors, venture capitalists, accelerators and collaborators.

Let the World see what we already know that Nigerian youths are not just job seekers, they are job creators, technology builders, and solution providers for the world.

To expand our global reach, we are also launching the NBTI Global App, a digital platform that will showcase approved inventions from across Nigeria to the world. From New York to Tokyo, from Johannesburg to Sydney, Nigerian-made technologies will now be visible, investable, and exportable.

Our vision is very clear: to make Nigeria a global hub for innovation across key sectors. Therefore, The NextGen Innovation Challenge 2025 will cover various sectors which include:
• *Agriculture and Food Security*
• *Renewable Energy and Climate Innovation*
• *Clean and Hydrogen technologies*
• *HealthTech and Biotechnology*
• *3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Technology*
• *ICT and Digital Infrastructure*
• *Fintech*
• *Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Robotics*
• *Drone and Nano Technology, Smart Solutions and Embedded Systems*
• *Mining technology solutions*
• *Cybersecurity Solutions.*
• *Software & Mobile App Development*
• *Security and Defence Technologies*
• *Smart Manufacturing and Industrialisation*
• *Edu-Tech and Digital Skills Development*
• *Smart Transportation and Mobility*
• *Environment, waste, Flood and disaster management*

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, this Challenge is not about one event. It is about seeding a future, where Nigerian ideas lead global revolutions.

To the private sector, development partners, venture capitalists, angel investors, multi-lateral institutions, diplomatic communities, national and international financial institutions, I say this, partner with our inventors and Innovators and invest in the future. Let’s co-create solutions that will redefine industries, elevate livelihoods, and catalyse our national growth.

To our Nigerian diaspora, your knowledge, networks, and capital are invaluable. Come home, not just physically, but intellectually and strategically. *Be part of this Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.*

To our young people, I say this with all my heart: You are the hope we believe in. You are the architects of a new Nigeria.

The eagle, our national symbol, does not flee from the storm, it rides it. Likewise, in these challenging times, we shall rise above adversity on the wings of innovations.

Let us rally behind this initiative with one voice, one vision, and one unwavering belief that the greatness of Nigeria lies in the genius of its people.

*Arise Nigeria! Arise the Eagle! The Dawn of Renewed Hope is Here.*

Thank you, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

*Dr KAZEEM KOLAWOLE RAJI, FCIPM-UK, FPMA-UK*
*DIRECTOR GENERAL/CEO*
*NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNOLOGY INCUBATION (NBTI).*
*ABUJA.*

*DATED THIS DAY 28TH MAY 2025.*