Lagos Launches Clean Energy Schools Innovation Challenge for Secondary Students

Secondary school students across Lagos State are set to compete in the maiden edition of the Lagos Cleaner Energy Schools Innovation Challenge (LCESIC) 2026, an initiative aimed at promoting clean energy innovation, STEM education, and practical problem-solving among young people statewide.

The challenge was formally launched on Wednesday by the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources at the ASSBIFI Event Centre in Alausa, Ikeja, an event that brought together senior government officials and key stakeholders from both the energy and education sectors.

Speaking at the launch, the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Biodun Ogunleye, described the initiative as an investment in the next generation of clean-energy innovators, stressing that it goes well beyond a conventional school competition. He explained that the rapidly changing global energy landscape requires deliberate investment in young people who will eventually design, build, regulate, manage, and lead the energy systems of the future.

Ogunleye stated that Lagos, as Nigeria's economic and innovation hub, must continue building the human capacity required to participate meaningfully in that evolving energy landscape. "The future of sustainable energy depends not only on infrastructure but, more importantly, on people," he said, adding that through LCESIC, the ministry is investing in the next generation of innovators by nurturing creativity, inspiring critical thinking, and empowering students to develop practical solutions capable of shaping the future of energy in Lagos State and beyond.

The commissioner explained that the state's broader vision is to build an innovation ecosystem in which students understand that their ideas matter and that government is committed to supporting that innovation from the classroom through to real-world impact.

According to details released by the ministry, the challenge is open specifically to eligible Senior Secondary School One (SS1) and Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) students across Education Districts I, II, and III. Participating schools are required to form teams comprising five students each, alongside a supervising teacher and a mentor. These teams will be tasked with conceptualising practical clean energy solutions within designated technical categories, competing first at district-level contests before the best-performing teams advance to a state championship.

The Ministry's Director of Public Affairs, Mrs Adetola Idowu, had earlier announced the opening of registration for the initiative, describing it as designed to inspire and equip the next generation of energy innovators while promoting creativity, critical thinking, and practical problem-solving among young people across the state.

Officials have positioned LCESIC as aligning closely with the Lagos State Government's broader THEMES+ development agenda, particularly its objectives around strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, promoting youth development, advancing clean energy innovation, and positioning Lagos as Nigeria's leading hub for technological advancement.

The initiative also reflects a collaborative effort between the state's energy and education sectors, aimed at nurturing young talent and developing a pipeline of future professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators capable of contributing meaningfully to the evolving energy landscape of both Lagos State and Nigeria more broadly.

The Ministry has called on participating schools, teachers, mentors, partners, and students to embrace the initiative and contribute to its successful implementation, with eligible secondary schools encouraged to constitute their teams, appoint supervising teachers and mentors, and complete registration through the official application portal ahead of the district-level contests.

With the challenge now formally launched, attention turns to how participating schools across the three eligible education districts organise their teams and develop their clean energy projects in the weeks ahead, as students prepare to compete first at the district level before the strongest teams progress toward the state championship. For a state grappling with its own significant energy access and reliability challenges, the initiative represents an attempt to cultivate homegrown problem-solving capacity among the very students who officials hope will eventually help address Lagos's, and Nigeria's, longer-term energy needs.