National Laureate: FG Sets Up Committee, Announces Annual Research Prize For Students

The Federal Government on Monday launched the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Committee in what education stakeholders described as one of Nigeria’s most ambitious attempts to reposition scholarship, innovation and research as national priorities.

The Committee will institute a new annual awards programme that will reward exceptional undergraduate, master’s and PhD research with prizes valued at about N365 million.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa inaugurated the Committee at the Digital Resource Centre, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

The committee is mandated to oversee the implementation of the National Laureate Programme, a flagship initiative to take academic excellence to the highest level of national recognition.

It will also promote research commercialisation and innovation in Nigerian accredited post-secondary and tertiary institutions.

Dr Alausa, who spoke at the inauguration exercise, said the programme was a deliberate effort by the Federal Government to reshuffle the country’s reward system.

“It will put scholarly achievement, scientific discovery and innovation alongside other nationally celebrated accomplishments,” he says.

The Minister add that the initiative is expected to inspire a new generation of young Nigerians to pursue researches that can solve real world problems, create new industries and strengthen the nation’s global competitiveness.
He said: “The ability to convert knowledge into economic value will increasingly determine the future prosperity of nations.

He said Nigeria must deliberately celebrate intellectual achievement if it wants to build a globally competitive knowledge economy.

Alausa said the Federal Government considered it necessary to establish a national platform in an era increasingly dominated by the social media-driven “attention economy”. The platform will reward creativity, scholarship, invention and commercially valuable research, especially among young people.

The newly inaugurated Committee is chaired by the President, Nigerian Academy of Science, Professor Abubakar Sambo.

Others are Professor Solomon Nwhator of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Professor (Mrs) Tolulope Ariyomo of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti; Professor Francis F. Uba of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo; Dr Babangida Abubakar Albaba, representing the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and Dr Salihu Bakari Girei representing Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

Others are Professor (Mrs) Carol Arinze-Umobi of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; Dr (Mrs) Obianuju Anigbogu, representing Federal Ministry of Education; Mr Francis Egbokare, representing Nigerian Academy of Letters; Dr Ezinne Orisakwe, representing the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Dr Pius O. Ekireghwo, representing the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

Also, the Secretary of the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), Mr Richard Falaye, is to serve as the Secretary to the Committee.

The inaugural National Laureate Awards will take place in November 2026. The awards will celebrate the country’s best Undergraduate Dissertations, Master’s Theses and Doctoral (PhD) Theses, as well as six thematic Excellence Awards.

Thematic categories cover Medicine and Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Agriculture, Law, Arts and Social Sciences, and Teaching Innovation.
The approved prize structure has the winner of the Undergraduate Dissertation category going home with N35 million, while the best Master’s Thesis will attract N50 million. The overall winner in the Doctoral (PhD) category will be awarded N100 million.

Also, six National Laureate Excellence Awards of N30 million shall be awarded annually.

This will take the programme’s total prize pool to an estimated N365 million annually.

The Minister also announced the setting up of the Dr Stella Adadevoh Excellence Award in Medicine and Medical Innovation. The award, one of the programme’s special awards, recognizes the late physician whose leadership during the 2014 Ebola outbreak prevented a national public health catastrophe.

He also directed the Committee to finalize its work on eligibility criteria, evaluation procedures and institutional engagement in good time to ensure successful hosting of the inaugural awards in November.

Dr Alausa also took the opportunity to commend Engr Olatunji Ariyomo, Chairman of NERD, for his innovative contributions to transformative interventions in Nigeria’s education sector.

Emeritus Professor Abubakar Sambo, the Chairman of the Committee, speaking for the Committee, said the initiative was a historic turning point in the country’s education policy. He commended the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for placing academic excellence and research at the core of national development.

“The Committee will uphold the highest standards of transparency, fairness and merit throughout the selection process,” Professor Sambo assured.

He congratulated Dr Alausa for leading a national revolution to reward and promote innovation and its commercialisation, assuring that every eligible student, regardless of institution or geographical location, will have equal opportunity to attain National Laureate status.

The process, he said, would be insulated from institutional favouritism and other extraneous influences.
He also said he believed the National Laureate Programme could be one of the most consequential reforms in Nigeria’s tertiary education landscape if successfully implemented.

The initiative, the committee argues, signals a departure from national priorities of social media celebrity culture towards a deliberate recognition of ideas, discoveries and innovations capable of driving economic transformation, over and above its substantial prize fund.

The programme is expected to deepen collaboration between universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, industry and government as well as create stronger incentives for commercially viable research and position Nigeria to compete more effectively within the global knowledge economy.