Federal Government has unveiled a National Laureate Award for tertiary institutions, with an annual prize pool of N365 million to recognise outstanding academic work across Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the initiative in a statement on Wednesday, saying it was established to “recognise, reward and elevate outstanding academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence” across the country’s tertiary education system.
Alausa said a special prize for medicine and medical innovation would be named after Dr Stella Adadevoh, the former lead physician and endocrinologist at First Consultants Medical Centre in Lagos.
He said Adadevoh’s courage and professional sacrifice played a significant role in preventing the 2014 Ebola outbreak from becoming a “national catastrophe” in Nigeria.
“One of these will be the Dr. Stella Adadevoh Prize for Medicine and Medical Innovation, in honour of the extraordinary physician whose courage and professional sacrifice contributed significantly to preventing the 2014 Ebola outbreak from becoming a national catastrophe,” Alausa said.
“Her legacy demonstrates the transformative power of knowledge, professionalism and service to humanity.”
The minister said the government had established a committee to provide the strategic direction, governance and integrity required for the implementation of the award.
“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,” Alausa said.
“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.
“As a Government, we believe that these young men and women and our distinguished academics deserve to be seen, supported and celebrated.”
According to the minister, the award is part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the education sector and is being jointly implemented by the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) and the Federal Ministry of Education.
He said the award would provide a national platform for identifying and rewarding exceptional academic research with significant potential for innovation, commercialisation, industrial application and national development.
The N365 million annual prize pool will cover different categories of outstanding academic work, including undergraduate dissertations with strong commercial potential, as well as exceptional master’s and doctoral theses with clear industrial and developmental applications.
Special prizes will also recognise outstanding work in critical areas, 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 be named after distinguished Nigerians whose lives symbolise exceptional service, courage and contributions to the country.
He stressed that the credibility of the award would depend largely on the integrity of its selection process.
According to him, the process would be “transparent, competitive, merit-driven and insulated from political, institutional or personal influence”, with excellence remaining the determining factor.
The minister said universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education, including privately owned institutions, would be eligible to participate in the competition.
However, he did not provide details on how eligible students and researchers can apply or participate in the awards.
