Innovation Challenge / National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA

About

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), through the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and ONDI, is calling for applications for the National AI Innovation Challenge 2026. This build-only national competition is designed to deepen the development and practical adoption of Nigeria's sovereign multilingual AI model, N-ATLAS (fine-tuned to support Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Nigerian-accented English). • Challenge Tracks: Developer Infrastructure, Voice-First Access, and Sectoral Fine-Tuning (e.g., healthcare, education, agriculture). • Eligibility: Open to Nigerian citizens (aged 18+), research teams/academia, registered startups (CAC-registered), and diaspora teams (minimum 50% Nigerian-based). Submissions must be original, in English, and restricted to one problem statement. • Submission Requirements: Must deliver a working, functional technical build (repository, live API, or deployed application) with proven N-ATLAS integration and real-world validation (user feedback or benchmarking). Pitch decks or concept wireframes alone are not eligible

Requirements

What you get

• Technical mentorship, compute credits, N-ATLAS API access, entry into the NITDA AI talent registry, and opportunities to showcase at the Digital Nigeria Showcase

Important dates

• Deadline: Oct 12, 2026

Location

Nigeria