Revamping Nigeria’s Industrial Value Chain: NASENI’s Role from R&D to Market
The drive for technological growth and development of Nigeria has taken off and leading the nation on this quiet revolution and indisputable breakthrough in the past three years is the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) under the dynamic and result oriented Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Suleiman Halilu Khalil
Providing insight into these laudable Research and Development is the Director of Information and Protocol, NASENI Mr Segun Ayeoyenikan.
In the following write-up, Mr Ayeoyenikan provides detailed analysis on NASENI’s research to product commercialisation to mark the third year anniversary of President Bola Tinubu led government:
Revamping Nigeria’s Industrial Value Chain: NASENI’s Role from R&D to Market: Asian countries like Japan, China, Singapore and Vietnam add value to their industrial chains by controlling the high-margin stages of research and development (R&D) design, engineering, branding and after sales services while using advanced manufacturing, automation, and skilled labour to convert raw materials and imported inputs into differentiated high-quality finished goods.
They strengthen backward integration by developing local suppliers for components and machinery; build forward linkages through processing and branding to capture more of the final product value, and invest heavily in skills, standards, and innovation ecosystem that enable firms to move up the value chain. The strategy helps keep more value jobs and profits domestically while competing on technology and quality rather than just cost.
Nigeria for some decades has struggled to improve on its industrial outputs, but growth has been hampered by a single bottleneck: the gap between research and commercial production. Ideas are generated in labs and universities, but few make it to factories, markets, and the hands of Nigerian consumers. The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) is closing that gap by building a complete value chain—from concept to prototype, from pilot production to market-ready products that industries can adopt today.
From Lab Bench to Factory Floor, NASENI’s mandate goes beyond research. The Agency operates a network of Development Institutes and advanced manufacturing centres designed to translate research into tangible products. At the heart of this system is reverse engineering and technology adaptation as well as commercialisation.
Instead of waiting for imported equipment, NASENI’s engineers dissect foreign technologies, redesign them for Nigerian operating conditions, and prepare them for local manufacturing. This approach has already produced working models in renewable energy, agriculture, transportation, and capital goods.
The goal is simple: reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imports, cut foreign exchange drain, and create products that are cheaper to buy, easier to maintain and built for local use and create jobs for Nigerians.
