The Federal Government has launched a ₦365 million annual National Laureate Prize to honor exceptional scholarly research, innovation, and intellectual achievement throughout Nigeria’s universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, presented the program on Wednesday in Abuja, characterizing it as part of broader endeavors to transform higher institutions from mere credential-granting centers into engines of research, technological breakthrough, enterprise, and national growth.
Addressing a press conference regarding the initiative, Alausa noted that the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize was structured to accord nationwide acclaim and substantial financial incentives to researchers and students whose academic contributions can resolve Nigeria’s developmental hurdles or be commercialized into viable enterprises.
He stated that the award would highlight extraordinary undergraduate projects with market viability, as well as distinguished master’s theses and doctoral studies demonstrating clear industrial and societal applications.
The minister added that specialized categories would also honor accomplishments in pivotal disciplines, including Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law, and Teaching Innovation.
The enterprise is being executed jointly by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Per Alausa, the administration’s intention extends past merely celebrating academic talent, as the award aims to reshape public perception around scholarship and inspire Nigerian youth to view research and enterprise as avenues toward national prestige, business creation, and financial prosperity.
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“Scholarship matters; research matters; innovation matters; and intellectual excellence deserves a prominent place in our national consciousness,” he said.
Alausa affirmed that the accolade would offer a formalized national framework for discovering research assets capable of being commercialized or applied toward mitigating urgent domestic issues.
He further declared the creation of the Dr. Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, instituted to honor the late medical practitioner whose bravery and expertise proved crucial to Nigeria’s successful suppression of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
The minister emphasized that the trustworthiness of the scheme rests upon the impartiality of its evaluation workflow, promising that all submissions will be subjected to an open, competitive, and merit-driven review.
“Excellence must be the determining factor,” he said, adding that the process would be insulated from political, institutional and personal influence.
He indicated that entries would likewise conform to the National Policy on the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, which he noted would fortify the archiving, record-keeping, and public availability of Nigeria’s scholarly output.
Alausa asserted that Nigeria cannot continue supporting an educational model centered primarily on issuing diplomas without converting insights into actionable remedies and tangible economic worth.
He explained that the government is steering higher education toward an ecosystem where research translates into enterprise, innovation expands into industry, and intellectual assets generate countable national growth.
“The innovator matters, the scholar matters, the researcher matters, and the rigour of our laboratories and intellectual institutions deserves national celebration,” the minister said.
He noted that the National Laureate Prize will encompass scholars and investigators across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, establishing a nationwide stage to highlight and champion ideas capable of defining Nigeria’s trajectory.
