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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is targeting a N3 billion investment pipeline for Nigerian startups as part of efforts to bridge the gap between indigenous innovation, access to capital and commercial opportunities.
The initiative, to be driven through the forthcoming Builders’ Festival, will connect Nigerian startups developing solutions to industry challenges with investors, corporate organisations and potential customers.
Director-general of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, disclosed this in his keynote address prepared for Moonshot 2026, organised by TechCabal at the National Theatre, Lagos, where he challenged Nigeria and other African countries to move beyond consuming digital technologies to creating globally competitive solutions.
The Builders’ Festival, scheduled to hold from November 10 to 12, 2026, alongside the Digital Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, is designed to provide indigenous technology companies with opportunities to attract investment, secure partnerships and access markets.
Abdullahi, however, clarified that the N3 billion represents a target investment pipeline and not funds already secured.
His intervention comes amid growing concerns over the ability of African startups to translate promising ideas and technological innovations into sustainable businesses capable of competing in international markets.
According to him, Africa has considerable technological talent but continues to struggle with gaps in infrastructure, financing, mentorship and market access, which prevent many promising innovations from reaching commercial scale.
He argued that the continent’s technological future would depend less on the technologies it consumes and more on its capacity to develop intellectual property, build indigenous enterprises and create solutions to its economic and social challenges.
“Africa’s next chapter will not be written by the technologies we consume. It will be written by the value we have the courage to create,” he declared.
The NITDA boss said the agency was repositioning itself as an orchestrator of the country’s digital innovation ecosystem through its Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0).
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The strategy prioritises connecting digital talent to opportunities, research to commercialisation, startups to capital, innovation to markets and technological advancement to public trust.
He maintained that Nigeria must move beyond celebrating hackathons, pitch competitions and funding announcements to measuring the actual economic impact of its innovation ecosystem.
“The true measure of an innovation ecosystem is not how many startups it celebrates. It is how many sustainable enterprises it helps create,” he stated.
Abdullahi also identified artificial intelligence as an important opportunity for Nigeria to develop indigenous technological capabilities, warning against excessive dependence on imported applications and solutions.
He called for increased investment in locally developed AI applications for agriculture, healthcare, education, manufacturing and local-language technologies, noting that homegrown innovation could address specific African challenges while creating new economic opportunities.
He urged investors to support promising indigenous enterprises, corporate organisations to open their doors to startup solutions and government institutions to strengthen policies, infrastructure and partnerships that would enable technology businesses to scale.
The NITDA chief further stressed that innovation, trust and disciplined execution would determine Africa’s ability to compete in the global digital economy.
“The future will not belong only to those who predict it. It will belong to those with the courage to build it, the conviction to sustain it, and the discipline to make it work,” he said.
He challenged African innovators to pursue global ambitions while developing solutions that generate jobs, create intellectual property and deliver lasting economic value.
