FG Establishes ₦365M Annual National Laureate Prize to Reward Nigeria’s Top Academic Minds

The Federal Government has established the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, an annual ₦365 million initiative to recognise and reward outstanding academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

Unveiling the initiative in Abuja, the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, CON, said the prize is designed to reposition tertiary institutions as centres of research, innovation, enterprise and problem-solving, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

Dr. Alausa noted that Nigeria has exceptional intellectual capacity across its universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education, but outstanding research and innovations require greater recognition and support to achieve national impact.

The prize will recognise exceptional undergraduate dissertations with commercial potential, outstanding Master’s theses and Doctoral research with industrial or developmental applications across six thematic areas: Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law, and Teaching Innovation.

The initiative will also feature the Dr. Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, honouring the late Nigerian physician.

The Federal Government said the programme will promote research commercialisation, preserve Nigeria’s intellectual output and strengthen the connection between tertiary education, industry and national development.