On Receiving the NAPS National Outstanding Performance Award — Reflections on Building a Software Company in Nigeria
By Mr. Gift Edegware · March 15, 2026 · 6 min read
In March 2026, the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) presented Gsoft Interactive Systems Ltd with the National Outstanding Performance Award (NOPA), citing the company as an outstanding software development firm in Nigeria. A reflection on what the recognition means — and what it doesn't.
In March 2026, a delegation from the National Body of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) flew to Lagos to present Gsoft Interactive Systems Ltd — the company I founded in 2017 — with the National Outstanding Performance Award (NOPA), citing the company as an “Outstanding Software Development Firm in Nigeria.”
I want to mark this on the site, and I want to be honest about what the award means.
What the citation says
The plaque carries the National Association of Polytechnic Students seal alongside the Coat of Arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The wording is precise:
“In recognition of your excellence in delivering innovative and cutting-edge software solutions, maintaining exceptional development standards, and contributing significantly to Nigeria’s growing digital and technology ecosystem.”
“Your commitment to innovation, quality service delivery, and client satisfaction has distinguished your organisation as a leader in software engineering and digital transformation.”
“This award is hereby presented to honour your outstanding performance, remarkable contributions, and unwavering dedication to advancing technology and innovation in Nigeria.”
That’s their language, and I’ll let it stand on its own.
What I want to acknowledge
The first thing to say is the honest one: this is an award presented to a company, not to me as an individual. Gsoft Interactive Systems is the product of a team — engineers, designers, project leads, support staff, clients who trusted us with serious work — over nearly nine years. The plaque sits on my desk, but the work it represents was done by a lot of people who don’t show up in the press features.
I received the award on behalf of that team. That feels like the right framing.
The second thing to say is that NAPS is a student association, and the recognition coming from them carries a meaning that isn’t the same as an industry award. It’s a signal that the next generation of Nigerian polytechnic students — the people who will graduate into the tech workforce over the next five years — are looking at the companies being built in this country and choosing to recognise some of them as standards to point at. That matters in a different way from a panel of senior peers handing out an award. It feels less like a verdict and more like a baton being passed.
The third thing is the small operational detail that meant a lot to me: the NAPS National Body delegation travelled to Lagos in person to present the award. They didn’t post a certificate. They didn’t run a virtual ceremony. They came to the office. That gesture itself said something about how the recognition was meant.
What the award is not
I want to be clear about a few things this award is not.
It is not a market verdict on Gsoft’s commercial position. We are a small senior firm, not a market leader by revenue or headcount. The big Nigerian software companies — the ones doing billion-naira deals with the banks and telcos — are a different category, and this award doesn’t change that.
It is not a substitute for the work continuing to ship. A plaque on a shelf doesn’t write the next system. The next fintech wallet, the next government platform, the next AI feature still has to be built carefully, and that’s where the energy goes from here.
It is not something I want to keep referring to in commercial conversations. Awards are nice. Press features are useful. But the conversations that turn into serious software work are about what we’ll deliver, not what we’ve been given.
What I do want to take from it
What I want to take from receiving this award is a sharper version of the discipline that produced it. The citation talks about “exceptional development standards” and “client satisfaction.” Those words are easy to put on a plaque. They are harder to live up to on a Wednesday afternoon when a junior engineer is asking whether they really need to write a test for the edge case nobody will hit, or when a client wants a feature shipped tomorrow that isn’t ready for tomorrow.
The award is, in that sense, a quiet pressure to maintain the standard. Now that someone has written it down on metal and put a national seal next to it, it would be inconvenient to start cutting corners. That’s a useful kind of pressure.
To the team, briefly
If anyone from Gsoft is reading this — past or present staff, contractors, designers, the project leads who held difficult clients together — this one is yours as much as mine. Thank you for the work you’ve done.
To NAPS National Body — thank you for the gesture. We’ll try to keep earning it.
To the next prospective client reading this and wondering if the recognition signals something useful: it does. It signals that an external body looked at our work and chose to put their name next to ours. What it signals beyond that is up to the work we do for you, not the award we’ve already received.
If you’re scoping serious software, AI, or a digital platform and want to talk, book a 30-minute call. I respond personally within one business day.