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The Federal Government at the weekend disbursed N2.250billion to 45 students from different tertiary institutions as a start-up to an innovation project under the newly introduced Student Venture Capital Grant.
The cheques were presented to the students at the end of three weeks boothcamp in Lagos by the Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahamd, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital, Economy Dr. Bosun Tijani and chairman, Senate Committee on TETFund, Senator Mohammed Muntari.
The winners were part of 65 students that made it to the final and participated in the bootcamp.
The University of Lagos (UNILAG), recorded the highest number of students with eight getting #400million our of #2.2billion.
Alausa disclosed that over 30,000 applications were received from students from more than 400 tertiary institutions across the country.
According to him, the Student Venture Capital Grant (S-VCG), is another transformative student programme from the Federal Ministry of Education
He added: “Today is not just another programme event. We are activating a new future. A new vision for Nigerian students.”
The education minister said that for too long, tertiary institutions have been seen primarily as centres for certification, “But under President Bola Tinubu, and in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda, we are redefining that narrative.
Alausa noted that tertiary institutions must now become: centres of innovation, engines of enterprise, and launchpads for Global Solutions
The minister student venture grant is one of the boldest steps the government took to bring this vision to life because this administration believes in the innate abilities of the students.
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He described the Student Venture Capital Grant as a national intervention designed to unlock the potential of Nigerian students. It is built on a simple but powerful idea.
Alausa explained that through the programme: students can access up to N50 million in equity-free funding, receive structured incubation and mentorship, and benefit from cutting-edge digital tools and AI-enabled evaluation systems.
He said the student venture capital grant will strengthen Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, build a pipeline of young entrepreneurs and job creators and position Nigeria as a hub for deep-tech and innovation-driven growth.
“This is how nations rise, Not by consuming ideas, but by creating them,” Alausa stated.
In his remarks, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, commended the Federal Ministry of Education for introducing the student venture capital grant and advised the winners to use the grant judiciously.
Chairman, Senate Committee on TETFund, Senator Mohammed Muntari said President Tinubu is interested in empowering Nigerian students to generate ideas and bring them to fruition.
The Resident Representative, UNDP Nigeria, Ms Elsie Attafuah described the event as a milestone; a structural pivot—one that reflects a deliberate shift from an education system that has historically focused on producing graduates, to one that is now being reoriented to produce founders, innovators, and job creators at scale.
“Because if we are to be candid, Nigeria has never had a talent problem; what we have had is a systems problem—an absence of a coherent pipeline that identifies talent, nurtures it, invests in it, and ultimately connects it to markets and opportunity,” she added.
Attafuah said through the programme, Nigeria has made a clear and deliberate choice to invest in its talent, to invest in its ideas, and to invest in a future defined not by resource extraction, but by knowledge creation and enterprise.
She added: “UNDP has also made its choice to stand not at the margins of this transformation, but firmly within it, as a committed partner working alongside government, institutions, and young innovators to build systems that deliver results at scale.
