Power outages threaten survival of Nigeria’s innovation hubs – Report
The survival of many innovation hubs across Nigeria is under threat due to persistent power outages, poor internet connectivity, and weak funding, according to a new assessment report released in Abuja on Thursday. The Chairman of the Innovation Support Network (ISN), Hanson Johnson, who presented the Nigerian Innovation Hub Assessment Report, said innovation hubs remain critical to entrepreneurship, skills development, and job creation but require stronger policy and infrastructure support to remain sustainable. Johnson noted that although the Federal Government had introduced the Nigeria Startup Act, its impact was being limited by the failure of many states to domesticate the law. “The Federal Government has done well by making sure that the Startup Act is in place, but that’s at the national level. Some states have been smarter, some have failed to domesticate it,” he said. He also highlighted regulatory bottlenecks and high compliance costs as major challenges affecting innovation and product development in the country’s tech ecosystem. “There are some products to build that we don’t have access to… " You cannot test anything unless you have access to data, information, and some institutions,” Johnson added. The report, officially unveiled at a press conference, revealed that over 70 per cent of innovation hubs operate on annual budgets below $50,000, making them financially vulnerable despite their impact on youth development and entrepreneurship. It also found that over 60 per cent of hubs experience frequent power outages, which significantly increases operational costs and threatens their survival. “Operational vulnerabilities are driven heavily by systemic infrastructure deficits, specifically skyrocketing overhead costs linked to recurrent power outages… unstable internet connectivity, and a widening technical talent retention gap,” the report stated. According to the findings, Lagos remains the country’s largest innovation hub cluster with 32 per cent, followed by Abuja with 16 per cent, while Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Rivers, and Abia states each account for about 4 per cent. The report further showed that 68.35 per cent of innovation hubs operate with fewer than 10 full-time staff, highlighting the small-scale nature of most centres. Despite the challenges, 90 per cent of hubs provide structured training programmes, while 60 per cent offer mentorship to startups and entrepreneurs across sectors such as ICT, AgriTech, FinTech, and EdTech. Speaking at the event, National Coordinator of the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), Victoria Fabunmi, said innovation hubs play a central role in linking talent, capital, and opportunity in Nigeria’s digital economy. Also speaking, Dr Thuweba Diwani of the GIZ Digital Transformation Centre Nigeria said the report would support future capacity-building, certification, and funding initiatives for hubs across the country. The report called on government, private sector actors, and development partners to invest in critical infrastructure, particularly renewable energy solutions, to ensure the sustainability of innovation ecosystems across Nigeria.
