FG unveils N365m national laureate prize for academic research, innovation

The Federal Government has instituted the Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation as part of the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize to recognise outstanding research and innovations capable of contributing to Nigeria’s development.

The Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking on the newly established Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize at a press conference in Abuja.

Alausa said the National Laureate Prize was established to recognise, reward and elevate outstanding academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

He said the initiative was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to reposition education as a catalyst for national development by ensuring that exceptional academic achievements receive national recognition.

According to him, the prize will strengthen Nigeria’s culture of scholarship and innovation by providing a structured platform for identifying and rewarding academic research with strong potential for innovation, commercialisation, industrial application and national development.

He said an annual prize pool of approximately N365 million was envisaged for different categories of outstanding academic work, including undergraduate dissertations with strong commercial potential, exceptional master’s theses and doctoral theses with clear industrial and developmental applications.

The minister said special prizes would also be awarded in critical fields, including Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law and Teaching Innovation.

Alausa said some of the special prizes would honour distinguished Nigerians whose lives symbolised exceptional service, courage and contributions to the country.

He said the Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation was named after the late physician whose courage and professional sacrifice contributed significantly to preventing the 2014 Ebola outbreak from becoming a national catastrophe.

“Her legacy demonstrates the transformative power of knowledge, professionalism and service to humanity,” the minister said.

Alausa said the credibility of the National Laureate Prize would depend fundamentally on the integrity of its selection process, stressing that the process would be transparent, competitive and merit-driven.

He said the selection process would also be insulated from political, institutional and personal influence, adding that excellence must remain the determining factor.

The minister explained that participation and submission of academic reports and entries would conform with the National Policy on the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), thereby strengthening the integrity, accessibility and long-term preservation of Nigeria’s intellectual output.

He said the National Laureate Prize was more than an awards programme, as it was designed to change the aspirations of Nigerian students and encourage them to pursue scholarship, innovation and research.

Alausa said the government wanted undergraduate students developing commercially viable innovations, master’s students researching solutions to national problems and doctoral researchers pursuing industrial applications to know that their work was valued and recognised.

“Ultimately, we must build an education system that does not simply produce certificates but produces solutions, innovations, enterprises and measurable national value,” he said.

The minister stressed that the most successful nations of the 21st century would be those capable of systematically transforming knowledge into solutions, research into enterprises and intellectual capital into economic and industrial value.

He said the initiative was one of the education-sector programmes under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and was being jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank.

Alausa also assured that the National Laureate Prize would be sustainably funded, explaining that NERD, which is structured as a financially sustainable enterprise, would contribute to its funding alongside the Federal Ministry of Education.

The Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize Committee is chaired by the President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Emeritus Professor Abubakar Sambo, and includes scholars such as Professor Solomon Nwhator of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and Professor Tolulope Ariyomo of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, among other members.

Alausa said the Federal Government remained committed to building an education system that develops the knowledge, skills, creativity and innovation required to drive Nigeria’s economic transformation and global competitiveness.

He added that the National Laureate Prize represented another step towards building a country where excellence is recognised, scholarship celebrated, innovation rewarded and the intellectual capacity of young Nigerians deliberately harnessed for national development.