FG, JICA, NSIA plan six startup funds as venture funding slumps

The Federal Government, working with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), is planning six funds to finance startups developing innovative solutions in Nigeria. The move is expected to strengthen funding opportunities for technology entrepreneurs, deepen the innovation ecosystem and support indigenous technology companies.

NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi disclosed this at the Global Tech Africa event in Kano, themed “Connecting Africa, Accelerating Growth.” He said the proposed funds form part of the Federal Government’s broader digital economy reforms to stimulate innovation, develop local technology talent and position Nigeria as a leading digital hub in Africa.

Private capital gap

Inuwa named the Bank of Industry (BOI) and other development finance institutions as important sources of funding for entrepreneurs. He called for greater private investor participation in startup financing, saying government funding alone cannot sustain a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“Private investors can provide not only capital but also equity partnerships, corporate governance, business expertise and leadership to help startups grow,” he said.

He said the six funds are meant to address funding constraints facing Nigerian startups. Beyond capital, he stressed that equity partnerships, business knowledge and corporate governance are essential to helping young companies scale.

Skills, broadband and cloud

Inuwa said the digital economy strategy rests on investments in human capital, innovation financing, broadband infrastructure and emerging technologies. The Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme aims to develop a skilled technology workforce. The Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) initiative is designed to equip Nigerians with foundational digital skills, with a target of 95% digital literacy by 2030.

The government is also integrating digital skills into formal education, from kindergarten to tertiary institutions. It plans to extend fibre-optic infrastructure across all 774 Local Government Areas, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to expand broadband connectivity. Inuwa said connectivity alone will not deliver full digital transformation without domestic computing capacity. NITDA’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative seeks to strengthen Nigeria’s computing infrastructure, promote digital sovereignty and ensure data generated in the country is securely processed and stored locally. He described data centres as the refineries of the digital economy and said Nigeria must own and control critical digital infrastructure to reduce dependence on foreign computing facilities and become a computing hub for West and Central Africa.

AI data gap and startup funding

On artificial intelligence, Inuwa said Africa accounts for less than 2% of the data used to train AI models. He called for more local participation in developing Large Language Models and other AI solutions that reflect Nigeria’s languages, cultures and socioeconomic realities. He said digital transformation must go beyond internet access and smartphones to create a pathway from connectivity and digital literacy to technology adoption, productivity and economic prosperity. Using Kano as an example, he called for efforts to restore the state’s historic position as a major commercial centre for the Sahel region through digital technology, modern trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The startup fund plan comes as venture capital funding for Nigerian startups has fallen. In September 2026, nine startups attracted a combined $11.3 million, compared with $364.1 million raised by 20 startups in August. The September figure represents a 96.9% month-on-month decline, reflecting unusually large transactions that boosted August, particularly Moove’s $250 million Series C round, Jumia’s $50 million raise and Yellow Card’s $40 million funding round.

For Nigerian founders, the six planned funds could widen access to early-stage capital. But the sharp drop in venture funding shows private capital remains critical to sustaining the ecosystem beyond public-sector interventions.