EU and Nigeria open negotiations on a bilateral Science & Technology Cooperation Agreement

The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria opened negotiations today for a bilateral Science & Technology Cooperation Agreement. The goal is to boost cooperation on research and innovation, in line with the conclusions of the 2023 EU-Nigeria Strategic Dialogue and the 2024 EU-Nigeria Summit.

A bilateral EU-Nigeria Science & Technology cooperation agreement would provide a political framework to assess past cooperation, discuss lessons learnt and jointly determine future actions, in line with the priority areas of the bilateral cooperation and the multilateral 10-year African Union (AU)-EU Innovation Agenda (2023-2033).

The negotiations are taking place in the conjunction with the second EU-Nigeria Science and Innovation Day on 24 February 2026 in Lagos, bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers to celebrate the vibrancy of EU-Nigeria cooperation.

R&I co-operation with Nigeria

EU-Nigeria cooperation on science, technology and innovation has been growing progressively over the past years, in line with the Joint EU-Nigeria Roadmap which resulted from the 7^th EU-Nigeria Ministerial Meeting in 2020. Achievements include Nigeria’s growing participation in the Horizon Europe framework programme and in the Global Health European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials’ Partnership 3 (EDCTP3).

In Horizon Europe, 55 projects involving Nigerian entities have received grants so far, mostly in health, food, agriculture and environment. These involve 65 participations by Nigerian organisations, benefitting from a budget of approximately EUR 20 million. Nigeria is also involved in 12 EDCTP3 projects, amounting to approximately EUR 75 million.

A total of 15 Nigeria-based organizations participate in these projects, receiving approximately EUR 9 million.

Background

The EU has bilateral Science and Technology Agreements with 20 individual countries around the world. These agreements are based on common interests and priorities, aiming to increase cooperation on research and innovation.

At present, the EU has bilateral Science & Technology cooperation agreements with five African countries: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia.