FG Unveils N365m Prize for Top Academic Minds
The Federal Government has established an annual ₦365 million prize to reward outstanding academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The initiative, announced by the Federal Ministry of Education, will also feature a ₦30 million Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, named in honour of the late Nigerian physician who played a significant role in containing the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
The Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize will recognise exceptional undergraduate dissertations, Master’s theses and doctoral research with commercial, industrial or developmental potential.
The programme will cover universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education, with the Federal Government saying it is aimed at repositioning tertiary institutions as centres of research, innovation, enterprise and problem-solving.
Unveiling the initiative in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said Nigeria had considerable intellectual capacity that required greater recognition and support to translate academic research and innovation into national impact.
Alausa said, “Nigeria has exceptional intellectual capacity across our universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education, but outstanding research and innovations require greater recognition and support to achieve national impact.”
He said the initiative was designed to strengthen the connection between academic research and practical solutions, while supporting the commercialisation of innovations produced within the country’s tertiary institutions.
The prize will cover six thematic areas: Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law, and Teaching Innovation.
The Federal Ministry of Education said the programme would recognise exceptional undergraduate dissertations with commercial potential, outstanding Master’s theses and doctoral research with industrial or developmental applications across the six thematic areas.
The programme will also feature the Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, named after the late physician.
According to the ministry, the broader initiative is expected to promote research commercialisation, preserve Nigeria’s intellectual output and strengthen the connection between tertiary education, industry and national development.
The latest announcement builds on the Federal Government’s earlier steps towards establishing the National Laureate Programme.
In June, the Minister inaugurated the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Committee in Abuja and charged it with developing transparent eligibility criteria, communicating the guidelines to tertiary institutions and concluding the selection process ahead of the inaugural National Laureate Awards scheduled for November 2026.
At the inauguration, Alausa described the programme as “a deliberate investment in Nigeria’s young intellectual capital,” saying it was intended to celebrate knowledge, innovation, creativity and research-driven development while strengthening the country’s research commercialisation ecosystem.
The committee is chaired by the President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Emeritus Professor Abubakar Sambo. Its responsibilities include developing award criteria, overseeing an independent adjudication process, managing the annual prize fund and ensuring the credibility of the programme.
The financial structure of the annual prize includes ₦35 million for the best undergraduate dissertation, ₦50 million for the best Master’s thesis and ₦100 million for the best doctoral thesis.
Six National Laureate Excellence Awards, each worth ₦30 million, will also be presented in Medicine and Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Agriculture, Law, Arts and Social Sciences, and Teaching Innovation, bringing the total annual prize pool to ₦365 million.
The Federal Government said the initiative was established in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, with the aim of giving academic excellence greater national recognition and encouraging researchers to develop solutions to Nigeria’s developmental challenges.
The programme is also expected to strengthen the relationship between research institutions and industry by encouraging academic work capable of being commercialised or applied to developmental challenges.
The government said the initiative would help preserve research produced within Nigeria while creating a stronger pathway from academic work to innovation, enterprise and national development.
The inaugural National Laureate Awards are scheduled for November 2026, following the committee’s work on eligibility, nominations and adjudication.