By Adeniji Samuel
Federal Government Sets Aside N365m Yearly to Honour Exceptional Work in Nigeria’s Tertiary Institutions
The Federal Government has introduced a new national award scheme that will commit about N365 million annually to celebrating exceptional research, academic achievement and innovation produced by students and scholars in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize is intended to give national visibility to ideas capable of solving practical problems, supporting enterprise development and contributing to Nigeria’s economic transformation.
Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa, CON, disclosed the initiative in Abuja, saying the programme reflected the administration’s determination to make education a central instrument of national progress under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.
According to the Minister, the award would help redirect public attention towards the value of knowledge creation and encourage students, researchers and academics to pursue work with measurable impact beyond the classroom.
He said the Federal Ministry of Education had already constituted the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize Committee to establish the framework for the award, oversee its implementation and protect the credibility of the selection process.
Alausa noted that Nigeria’s universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education were producing research with significant potential, but that many of these achievements had not received the recognition or support required to move from academic papers to usable products and services.
He said the new prize would provide a national pathway for identifying such work and connecting it with opportunities for commercialisation, industrial application and wider public benefit.
“The Renewed Hope Agenda recognises that the future of Nigeria will be shaped by the quality of ideas we generate and our ability to turn those ideas into solutions. This prize is therefore an investment in the people whose knowledge and creativity can move the country forward,” he said.
The programme is being implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education in partnership with the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
The annual fund will support awards for undergraduate dissertations with strong market potential, Master’s research demonstrating exceptional quality and Doctoral work capable of addressing industrial or developmental needs.
Additional recognition will be given across six fields: Engineering and Technology; Medicine and Health Sciences; Arts and Social Sciences; Agriculture; Law; and Teaching Innovation.
A special honour, the Dr. Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, will also be presented in memory of the late physician whose bravery and professional commitment helped contain the threat posed by the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
The Minister said the initiative was not intended to reward certificates alone, but to promote a national culture in which research is linked to public service, job creation, enterprise and technological advancement.
He added that the scheme would encourage students to pursue ambitious projects and assure researchers that work addressing Nigeria’s pressing challenges could attract national attention.
Alausa further stated that the award process would be guided by fairness, transparency and academic merit. He said the integrity of the programme would remain a priority and that all entries would be subjected to a credible assessment process.
He explained that the documentation of submissions would also align with the National Policy on the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, thereby improving the preservation, verification and accessibility of the country’s intellectual output.
Award Structure
Chairman of the prize committee, Prof. Sani Sambo, said the awards would operate through two levels of recognition in each thematic field.
He explained that the highest-ranked entry in every area would receive a star prize, while other highly rated submissions would be honoured through thematic awards. The structure, he said, was designed to recognise exceptional performance while maintaining a balanced representation of disciplines.
Sambo added that the number of categories could be reviewed as the programme develops, but that the initial six areas would provide a practical foundation for the national scheme.
Nationwide Participation
The Chief Executive Officer of NERD, Tunji Ariyomo, said eligible entries would be accepted from tertiary institutions across the country, irrespective of ownership or location.
He listed the participating institutions as universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education, adding that supervisors would be required to confirm the authenticity of student submissions through a digital affirmation process.
Ariyomo said the verification requirement would help prevent misrepresentation and ensure that every project entered for consideration was genuinely produced by the student identified as its author.
The Minister said the National Laureate Prize was part of the Federal Government’s broader effort to build an education system that rewards creativity, strengthens research capacity and converts knowledge into national value.
He reaffirmed that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would continue to support initiatives that expand opportunity, promote excellence and position Nigerian students and researchers as active contributors to the country’s development.
Adeniji Samuel
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