The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa has launched the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, a N365m annual award scheme designed to recognise, reward and elevate outstanding academic research and innovation across Nigeria’s universities and other tertiary institutions.
Alausa, while briefing the press on the initiative on Wednesday, described it as a deliberate effort to reposition education as a catalyst for national development.
He said the prize was established to ensure that exceptional academic achievement receives the national recognition it deserves.
“For many years, our national attention and reward systems have not sufficiently celebrated the remarkable work taking place in our universities and other tertiary institutions.
“Across this country, young Nigerians and academics are conducting research, developing solutions, creating new technologies and generating ideas capable of addressing some of our most pressing developmental challenges,” he said.
The minister explained that the programme is one of the initiatives under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu and will be jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank(NERD).
He noted that he had recently inaugurated the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize Committee and charged it with providing strategic direction, governance and integrity for the successful implementation of the initiative.
According to him, the prize will provide a structured national platform for identifying and rewarding exceptional academic research with significant potential for innovation, commercialisation, industrial application and national development.
An annual prize pool of approximately N365m is envisaged for different categories of outstanding academic work, including undergraduate dissertations demonstrating strong commercial potential, exceptional Master’s theses, and Doctoral Ph.D. theses with clear industrial and developmental applications.
There will also be Special Prizes recognising outstanding work in critical fields including Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Agriculture, Law and Teaching Innovation. Importantly, some of these Special Prizes will honour distinguished Nigerians whose lives symbolise exceptional service, courage and contribution to the nation.
One of these will be the Dr. Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, in honour of the 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 stressed that the credibility of the National Laureate Prize will depend fundamentally on the credibility of its selection process.
“The process will therefore be transparent, competitive, merit-driven and insulated from political, institutional or personal influence. Excellence must be the determining factor,” he said.
He added that participation and submission of academic reports and entries will conform with the National Policy on the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, to strengthen the integrity, accessibility and long-term preservation of Nigeria’s intellectual output.
He explained that an undergraduate developing a commercially viable innovation should know that Nigeria values that work, a Master’s student investigating a solution to an important national problem should know that the country is paying attention, and doctoral researchers should see a clear pathway from academic research to industrial application, enterprise creation and national development.
“Our message is therefore very clear: scholarship matters; research matters; innovation matters; and intellectual excellence deserves a prominent place in our national consciousness,” he said.
He added that the country must build an education system that does not simply produce certificates but produces solutions, innovations, enterprises and measurable national value.
He said through the National Laureate Prize, the government is making an important national statement.
“The innovator matters, the scholar matters, the researcher matters, and the rigour of our laboratories and intellectual institutions deserves national celebration,” he said.
The Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize will cut across six thematic areas and three academic levels, producing eighteen laureates annually.
According to the project website, at each level, one national thematic laureate will be selected from each of the six areas.
The Star Prizes are N35m for undergraduates, N50m for Master’s, and N100m for Doctoral. The remaining 15 laureates will receive N12m each.
(The Whistler)