Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The federal government has unveiled a N365 million annual National Laureate Prize to reward outstanding academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence across Nigeria’s universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, unveiled the initiative on Wednesday in Abuja, describing it as part of efforts to reposition tertiary institutions from predominantly certificate-awarding centres into hubs of research, innovation, enterprise and national development.
Speaking at a press conference on the initiative, Alausa said the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize was designed to give national recognition and tangible rewards to scholars and students whose academic work could address Nigeria’s developmental challenges or be translated into commercial ventures.
He said the prize would recognise exceptional undergraduate dissertations with commercial potential, outstanding master’s theses and doctoral research with clear industrial and developmental applications.
The minister said special prizes would also be awarded in strategic fields, including Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law and Teaching Innovation.
The initiative is being jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, NERD, under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to Alausa, the government’s objective goes beyond celebrating academic brilliance, as the prize is intended to change the perception of scholarship and encourage Nigerian students to see research and innovation as pathways to national recognition, entrepreneurship and economic prosperity.
“Scholarship matters; research matters; innovation matters; and intellectual excellence deserves a prominent place in our national consciousness,” he said.
Alausa said the award would provide a structured national platform for identifying research works with the potential to be commercialised or deployed in addressing pressing national challenges.
He also announced the Dr. Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, established in honour of the late physician whose courage and professionalism played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s successful containment of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
The minister stressed the credibility of the initiative would depend on the integrity of its selection process, assuring that entries would undergo a transparent, competitive and merit-based assessment.
“Excellence must be the determining factor,” he said, adding that the process would be insulated from political, institutional and personal influence.
He said submissions would also comply with the National Policy on the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, which he said would strengthen the preservation, documentation and accessibility of Nigeria’s intellectual output.
Alausa said Nigeria could no longer afford an education system focused largely on producing certificates without translating knowledge into practical solutions and economic value.
He said the government was working towards a tertiary education system where research becomes enterprise, innovation becomes industry and intellectual capital becomes measurable national value.
“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 added that the National Laureate Prize would cover students and researchers in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, providing a national platform for recognising and promoting ideas capable of shaping Nigeria’s future.
