The Federal Ministry of Education has inaugurated the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Committee and unveiled an annual prize pool of about N365 million designed to reward outstanding students’ research, scholarship and innovation across the country.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who performed the inauguration in Abuja, said the National Laureate Programme is a deliberate national intervention to give academic excellence the same recognition accorded to achievements in sports, entertainment and other sectors.
He explained that the yearly prize is intended to inspire a new generation of researchers, inventors and problem-solvers whose work will contribute directly to national development and strengthen Nigeria’s economic competitiveness.
The committee has been mandated to develop transparent eligibility criteria, communicate approved guidelines to tertiary institutions nationwide, and complete all preparatory work ahead of the inaugural National Laureate Awards ceremony scheduled for November 2026.
The committee is chaired by the President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Emeritus Prof. Abubakar Sambo, and draws its membership from universities, academies and regulatory agencies including the NUC, NBTE, NCCE and TETFund. Mr. Richard Falaye, Secretary of the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), serves as Secretary to the committee.
Under the programme, the best undergraduate dissertation attracts N35 million, the best master’s thesis N50 million, and the best doctoral thesis N100 million. Six National Laureate Excellence Awards valued at N30 million each — in Medicine and Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Agriculture, Law, Arts and Social Sciences, and Teaching Innovation — bring the annual special awards to N180 million.
The minister also announced the Dr. Stella Adadevoh Excellence Award in Medicine and Medical Innovation, named in honour of the late physician whose intervention helped contain the spread of Ebola in Nigeria in 2014.
Responding on behalf of the committee, Prof. Sambo assured the minister that the selection process would be transparent, merit-based and nationally inclusive, insulated from institutional favouritism, so that every deserving student across Nigeria’s accredited institutions has an equal opportunity to attain National Laureate status.