The Nigerian Government has unveiled a N365 million annual National Laureate Prize to reward outstanding academic research, innovation and intellectual work in Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa at the unveiling in Abuja, described the initiative as part of efforts to reposition tertiary institutions from predominantly certificate-awarding centres into hubs of research, innovation, enterprise and national development.
According to him the 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.
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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.
“Special prizes would be awarded in strategic fields, including Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law and Teaching Innovation,” he said.
The Minister explained that the initiative was being jointly implemented by the Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, NERD, under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Alausa said 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.
“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,” the minister said.
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 informed that the credibility of the initiative would depend on the integrity of its selection process, as such entries would undergo a transparent, competitive and merit-based assessment and 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.
“Government is 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,” he said.
The Minister said 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.
Funding Cancellation
On the cancellation of funding under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA), Alausa said the policy was no longer providing value commensurate with the resources being committed.
“Nigeria has developed significant capacity in its universities, polytechnics and colleges of education over the years, making it unnecessary in some cases to spend large sums of public funds sending students abroad to study programmes available locally,” he said.
The Minister, however said the Nigerian government would not prevent foreign countries from offering scholarships to Nigerian students, stressing that the decision was aimed at ensuring that public funds were deployed more efficiently and towards programmes that would provide greater benefits to citizens.
The Chairman of the National Laureate Prize Committee, Professor Sani Sambo, said that the first category of the prize winners would be the “best of the best”, which would receive the star prize, while other outstanding entries within each of the six thematic areas would receive thematic prizes.
Sambo also said that the government could expand the categories in future if the need arose, but stated that the decision to begin with six areas would ensure that the programme remained focused and manageable.
He said the areas provided a reasonable balance between science, applied sciences, humanities, law and teaching innovation.
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of NERD, Tunji Ariyomo, said the programme was open to tertiary institutions across the country including private institutions.
“Universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education, regardless of ownership are eligible to participate,” he said
Ariyomo said the programme also recognised the role of lecturers and supervisors in ensuring the integrity of academic submissions.
He explained that supervisors would be required to provide digital affirmation that projects submitted under the programme were genuinely undertaken by the students concerned.
The selection of participants and their research, according to the arrangements would go through three stages, beginning with the tertiary institutions committee, then to the regional selection committee in the six geopolitical zones and finally to the national committee.
