The Federal Government has introduced an annual ₦365 million prize to recognise outstanding academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
FG also announced a ₦30 million Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation in honour of the late Nigerian physician, Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, who was credited with helping contain the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria after placing the index case, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite pressure from the Liberian government.
The Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, announced by the Federal Ministry of Education, will honour exceptional undergraduate dissertations, Master’s theses and doctoral research with commercial, industrial or developmental potential.
The initiative will cover universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education, with the government saying it seeks to reposition tertiary institutions as centres of research, innovation, enterprise and problem-solving.
Unveiling the programme in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said Nigeria possessed substantial intellectual capacity that required greater recognition and support to translate academic work into national impact.
The details were contained in a statement issued on Wednesday evening by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Boriowo Folasade.
“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,” Alausa said.
The minister said the initiative was intended to deepen the relationship between academic research and practical solutions while encouraging the commercialisation of innovations developed 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 thematic areas.
It will also include the “Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, named after the late Nigerian physician.”
The ministry said the wider programme would “promote research commercialisation, preserve Nigeria’s intellectual output and strengthen the connection between tertiary education, industry and national development.”
The latest announcement follows earlier steps by the Federal Government towards establishing the National Laureate Programme.
In June, according to media reports, Alausa inaugurated the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Committee in Abuja and tasked it with developing transparent eligibility criteria, communicating the guidelines to tertiary institutions and completing 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.”
“It is intended to celebrate knowledge, innovation, creativity and research-driven development while strengthening the country’s research commercialisation ecosystem,” he said.
The committee is chaired by the President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Emeritus Prof. Abubakar Sambo, while its duties include developing award criteria, supervising an independent adjudication process, administering the annual prize fund and protecting the credibility of the programme.
According to media reports, 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 valued at ₦30 million, will also be presented for 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 programme was established in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Alausa said the government wanted to give academic excellence stronger national recognition while motivating researchers to develop solutions capable of addressing Nigeria’s developmental challenges.
The minister said Nigeria’s tertiary institutions had generated substantial intellectual work, but noted that exceptional research needed stronger recognition and support to achieve broader national impact.
The programme is also expected to improve collaboration between research institutions and industry by encouraging academic work that can be 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.
Through the programme, the Federal Government said it wants Nigeria’s universities and other tertiary institutions to “play a stronger role in research, innovation and problem-solving, while giving the country’s leading academic minds greater recognition for work with potential national impact.”
