NITDA National AI Innovation Challenge 2026

At the centre of the challenge is N-ATLAS (Nigerian Atlas for Languages and AI at Scale), Nigeria’s open-source multilingual large language model. Fine-tuned from Llama-3 8B, N-ATLAS supports Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Nigerian-accented English, including Automatic Speech Recognition for voice applications.

The challenge invites Nigerian innovators to build developer tools, voice-first applications and sector-specific AI solutions using N-ATLAS.

Challenge Objectives

The challenge aims to:

1. Deepen the technical development of N-ATLAS through developer tools, fine-tuned models, datasets and ecosystem contributions.
2. Accelerate adoption through deployable, real-world applications, particularly voice-first services.
3. Expand AI applications across health, agriculture, education, legal services and financial inclusion.
4. Connect Nigerian universities, private-sector organisations and government through a structured innovation ecosystem.
5. Cultivate and showcase Nigerian AI talent nationally and internationally.

Three Problem Statements

Applicants can choose one of the following:

• Build the tools that make N-ATLAS easy to build with
• Build applications for Nigerians who do not type
• Fine-tune N-ATLAS for high-impact Nigerian sectors

General Requirements

• All team members must be Nigerian citizens or registered Nigerian entities.
• Submissions must be original work that has not previously received an award in another competition.
• Each team may submit to only one problem statement.
• Every submission must include a functioning technical artefact integrated with N-ATLAS.
• Applications and supporting materials must be submitted in English.

Academia & Research Applicants

• The team lead must be enrolled in or employed by an accredited Nigerian university or research institution.
• An institutional endorsement letter signed by the Head of Department or equivalent is required.

Innovation & Enterprise Applicants

Individual applicants:

• Must be Nigerian citizens.
• Must be at least 18 years old.

Company applicants:

• Must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Diaspora teams:

• At least 50% of team members must be based in Nigeria.

Benefits

For all applicants:

• Technical clinics and office hours
• N-ATLAS onboarding support
• Technical resources and reference materials
• University roadshows
• Ecosystem briefings

For shortlisted teams:

• N-ATLAS API credentials
• Compute credits through partner infrastructure
• Technical mentorship during the acceleration phase
• Support to strengthen and harden their builds
• Invitations to the Nigeria AI Innovators Summit
• Inclusion in the NITDA AI talent registry
• Priority consideration for government AI pilots

Additional Opportunities for Winners

Academia & Research

• NCAIR research-lab partnership
• N-ATLAS co-contributor credit
• Federal Government recognition
• Publication and model-card support
• Inclusion in the national AI researcher registry

Innovation & Enterprise

• Government procurement pathway review
• ONDI incubation support
• Investor introductions
• N-ATLAS API integration support
• Inclusion in the national AI startup directory

Application Timeline