NNPC Limited and FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company (FIRST E&P) have started a new grant programme called Impact FIRST: Heritage. Five Nigerian NGOs got picked as the first set of organisations to benefit. The grant presentation happened on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, in Ikoyi, Lagos.
This is not the regular yearly Impact FIRST grant you might have heard about before. Heritage is a new, separate layer built on top of it, and it works differently. There is no open application for Impact FIRST Heritage right now. The five NGOs that got in were picked from organisations that already won the regular Impact FIRST grant in past years, not from a fresh call for proposals.
The five NGOs that got the first Impact FIRST Heritage grant
Following what the JV called a strict review process, these five organisations came out on top:
- The IREDE Foundation gives out prosthetic limbs and other support to child amputees. This isn’t their first Impact FIRST money either. They also made the list back in 2024, when the programme first started.
- Asido Foundation, run by Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, helps people living with severe mental health conditions get rehabilitated and find their way back into their communities. They won Impact FIRST funding in the 2025 edition too.
- Long-term care for people living with cerebral palsy. That’s what Cerebral Palsy Centre does, and it’s their second Impact FIRST win, going back to the maiden 2024 edition.
- Sight-restoring eye surgery for people who can’t afford it privately. That’s the work of Health and Development Support Programme (HANDS).
- Health Emergency Initiative (HEI) works to widen access to emergency healthcare and trains first responders. Pascal Achunine, HEI’s Executive Director, spoke for all five organisations at the event.
So three of the five names on this Heritage list, IREDE Foundation, Cerebral Palsy Centre, and Asido Foundation, had already won money from the regular Impact FIRST grant before. That’s not a coincidence. It’s the whole point of how Heritage works.
What Impact FIRST Heritage is, in plain terms
The regular Impact FIRST grant that NNPC and FIRST E&P have run since 2024 is a yearly, one-off thing. An NGO applies, gets picked, gets money for that year, and that’s it until the next call opens. Since it started, that programme has supported 15 organisations whose work has reached over 20,000 people around Nigeria.
Impact FIRST Heritage is different. Instead of a one-time payment, it gives multi-year funding, so an NGO doesn’t have to start from zero every year. Still, you can’t just walk up and apply for it. Heritage only picks NGOs that already proved themselves through the regular Impact FIRST grant. They need strong governance, real measurable impact, and programmes that keep running and can grow further.
Speaking at the event, Emmanuel Etomi, Executive Director of Corporate Services at FIRST E&P, said the five organisations continue to improve lives and create opportunities for some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable people. Olanrewaju Igandan, Chief Upstream Investment Officer at NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS), was represented at the event by Usman Mohammed-Bello. He said moving from a yearly giving programme to a multi-year one shows a more mature, strategic approach to how the JV handles social investment.
How much money has gone into Impact FIRST so far
Nobody has said publicly how much money is going into this new Heritage round. What’s confirmed is the money from the earlier, regular editions of Impact FIRST.
| Year | Edition | NGOs funded | Amount given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Impact FIRST (maiden edition) | 5 | Over ₦50 million |
| 2025 | Impact FIRST (second edition) | 12 | Over ₦287 million |
| 2026 | Impact FIRST: Heritage (first edition) | 5 | Not made public |
If you run an NGO in Nigeria
Since Heritage doesn’t take fresh applications, the way in is still the regular yearly Impact FIRST grant. That one has, in the past, opened for applications to NGOs working in healthcare, education, economic empowerment, and community development across Nigeria. Build a track record there first. Show real numbers. Heritage is NNPC and FIRST E&P’s way of rewarding NGOs that already did all that, sha.
