The Federal Government on Monday inaugurated 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 launch a new annual award programme which will honour outstanding undergraduate, master’s and doctoral research with prizes worth about N365 million.
The Committee was inaugurated by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa at the Digital Resource Centre, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
The committee has the mandate of overseeing the implementation of the National Laureate Programme, a flagship initiative designed to take academic excellence to the highest level of national recognition.
It will also drive research commercialisation and innovation across Nigeria’s accredited post-secondary and tertiary institutions.
Speaking at the inauguration exercise, Dr Alausa said the programme was a deliberate effort by the Federal Government to reshuffle the country’s reward system.
It will have national significance for scholarly achievement, scientific discovery and innovation, 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: “More and more, the future prosperity of nations will depend on their ability to convert knowledge into economic value.”
He said that Nigeria must consciously celebrate intellectual achievement if it hopes to build a globally competitive knowledge economy.
The Federal Government found it necessary to establish a national platform in an era dominated by the social media-driven “attention economy,” Alausa said. The platform will reward creativity, scholarship, invention and commercially valuable research, especially among young people.
The newly inaugurated Committee is headed 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 the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Others are Professor (Mrs) Carol Arinze-Umobi of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; Dr (Mrs) Obianuju Anigbogu, Federal Ministry of Education; Mr Francis Egbokare, Nigerian Academy of Letters; Dr Ezinne Orisakwe, National Universities Commission (NUC) and Dr Pius O. Ekireghwo, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).
Also, the Secretary of the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), Mr Richard Falaye, is to act as Secretary to the Committee.
The first National Laureate Awards will be held in November 2026. The awards will recognise the country’s best Undergraduate Dissertations, Master’s Theses and Doctoral (PhD) Theses, as well as six thematic Excellence Awards.
The thematic categories include Medicine and Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Agriculture, Law, Arts and Social Sciences and Teaching Innovation.
The approved prize structure sees the winner of the Undergraduate Dissertation category go home with N35 million, while the best Master’s Thesis will attract N50 million. The overall winner in the Doctoral (PhD) category goes home with N100 million.
Also, each year, six National Laureate Excellence Awards of N30 million shall be awarded.
This takes the programme’s total prize pool to approximately 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 averted a national public health catastrophe.
He further instructed the Committee to complete 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 used the occasion to commend Engr Olatunji Ariyomo, Chairman of NERD, for his innovative contributions to transformative interventions in Nigeria’s education sector.
Emeritus Professor Abubakar Sambo, Chairman of the Committee, responding on behalf of the Committee, described the initiative as a historic turning point in the nation’s education policy. He commended the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for positioning academic excellence and research at the heart of national development.
“The Committee will ensure the highest standards of transparency, fairness and merit in the selection process,” Professor Sambo assured.
He congratulated Dr Alausa for spearheading a national revolution to reward and promote innovation and its commercialisation, and assured him that every eligible student, irrespective 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 considerations.
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 committee argued that the initiative signals a shift in national priorities away from social media celebrity culture to deliberately recognise ideas, discoveries and innovations capable of driving economic transformation, beyond its substantial prize fund.
The programme is expected to foster deeper 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.
