By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The Federal Government has introduced a N365 million annual National Laureate Prize to reward exceptional research, innovation and intellectual excellence among students and researchers in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, unveiled the initiative on Wednesday, 26 August, 2026, in Abuja, as part of efforts to reposition universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as centres of research, innovation, enterprise and national development rather than institutions focused mainly on awarding certificates.
The Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, according to Alausa, will provide national recognition and financial rewards for academic works capable of addressing developmental challenges or being translated into commercially viable ventures.
The initiative will recognise exceptional undergraduate dissertations with commercial potential, outstanding master’s theses and doctoral research with clear industrial and developmental applications.
It will also feature special prizes in strategic areas, including Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law and Teaching Innovation.
The programme 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.
Alausa said the government’s objective was not merely to celebrate academic brilliance but to change the perception of scholarship by encouraging students and researchers to view research and innovation as pathways to national recognition, entrepreneurship and economic prosperity.
He said the initiative would establish a structured national platform for identifying research capable of being commercialised or deployed to address pressing national challenges.
“Scholarship matters; research matters; innovation matters, and intellectual excellence deserves a prominent place in our national consciousness,” Alausa said.
The Minister also announced the Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, established in honour of the late physician whose courage and professionalism contributed significantly to Nigeria’s containment of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
He stressed that the credibility of the awards would depend largely on the integrity of the selection process, assuring prospective participants that entries would undergo transparent, competitive and merit-based assessment.
“Excellence must be the determining factor,” he said, stressing that the process would be insulated from political, institutional and personal influence.
Alausa further said submissions would be required to comply with the National Policy on the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, which is expected to strengthen the preservation, documentation and accessibility of Nigeria’s intellectual output.
The minister maintained that Nigeria could no longer afford a tertiary education system that produces certificates without translating knowledge into practical solutions and economic value.
He said the government was working towards an education system in which research could become enterprise, innovation could translate into industry and intellectual capital could generate 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 National Laureate Prize will cover students and researchers across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, creating a national platform for identifying, rewarding and promoting ideas considered capable of contributing to Nigeria’s development.
The government expects the initiative to strengthen the link between academic research and real-world applications while encouraging a culture of innovation and enterprise across the tertiary education sector.
