- Shettima Launches OVP-GenU Secretariat To Connect 20m Youths To Education, Skills
The Federal Government has approved the establishment of the Nigeria National Laureate Annual Prize Programme, a landmark initiative designed to recognise and reward outstanding academic research, intellectual excellence, and commercially viable innovation emerging from Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Announcing the initiative, the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa, described the programme as a strategic national intervention aimed at reshaping Nigeria’s educational incentive structure by placing scholarly achievement, academic excellence, and research innovation at the forefront of national recognition.
Under the programme, exceptional dissertations and theses produced by students in accredited tertiary institutions will be honoured annually through the National Laureate Prize, with financial rewards ranging from N5 million to N20 million across three academic categories.
Undergraduate dissertation winners will receive a minimum of N5 million, master’s thesis winners will receive N10 million, while doctoral thesis winners will be awarded N20 million, alongside national recognition befitting their scholarly contributions.
Dr. Alausa noted that the initiative reflects the Federal Government’s commitment to positioning Nigeria as a knowledge-driven and innovation-led economy, where intellectual capital and research excellence are celebrated as critical drivers of national development.
According to the Minister, the programme represents a deliberate effort to elevate the value of academic research and ensure that the rigour of scholarly work receives recognition comparable to other celebrated fields in society.
“By elevating our students to the status of celebrated National Laureates, we are ensuring that the rigour of research and academic excellence is matched with the highest level of national prestige and financial reward,” the Minister stated.
“While it is not wrong to celebrate social influencers, this must not be at the expense of innovators. With the National Laureate Prize, we are signalling a new era where a student’s thesis is no longer merely a graduation requirement but a potential blueprint for national industrialisation and development,” he added.
To ensure sustainability without placing additional pressure on public funds, the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) and its strategic partners will finance the entire lifecycle of the annual prize programme.
To oversee the implementation of the initiative, the Minister has constituted a 10-member NERD National Laureate Prize Committee chaired by Prof. Abubakar Sambo. The committee will supervise the national call for submissions, vetting processes, and final selection of laureates across the country.
Other members of the committee include Prof Solomon Nwhator, Prof (Mrs) Tolulope Ariyomo, Prof Francis F. Uba, and Prof (Mrs) Carol Arinze-Umobi, alongside representatives from the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Nigeria Academy of Sciences, National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), and the Federal Ministry of Education. The Secretary of NERD will serve as Secretary to the Committee.
In a historic tribute to national service, select prizes under the programme will be named after distinguished Nigerians. The inaugural honour will recognise Dr. Stella Adadevoh, celebrating her legacy of courage, professionalism, and national sacrifice.
Under the programme guidelines, tertiary institutions across the country have been directed to assess and submit their best academic works for national consideration, while the Prize Committee retains the authority to identify outstanding research contributions from across the country.
For the 2026 cycle, the programme will commence with the inauguration of the Prize Committee, followed by a national call for submissions in May 2026 through the NERD portal.
The evaluation phase will run from June to September 2026, culminating in the National Laureate Gala scheduled for November 2026 in Abuja, where outstanding scholars will be decorated and celebrated for their contributions to Nigeria’s intellectual advancement and national development.
Members of the public are encouraged to follow the progress of the national research curation and laureate selection process via the NERD portal.
Meanwhile, the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has formally launched the Office of the Vice President-Generation Unlimited (OVP-GenU) Secretariat to coordinate the implementation of the programme’s activities across the country.
The GenU Nigeria initiative is a UNICEF-led Public-Private-Youth Partnership (PPYP) programme designed to connect 20 million Nigerian youths to education, skills, and livelihood opportunities by 2030.
Speaking during the launch of the secretariat on Tuesday in Abuja, the Vice President, represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Sen. Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, said the office would accelerate programme execution and deepen partnership across various agencies of government.
He explained that one of the benefits establishing the secretariat would be the proper alignment of skills to the demands of community, industry and society through a transparent process that will be accessible to all.
Earlier in his remarks, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, commended stakeholders for the launch of the initiative in Nigeria, stating that its framework aligns with the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme (RHWDP).
While pledging his ministry’s support for the GenU programme, Sen. Bagudu noted that the initiative will help accelerate the implementation of the Federal Government programme aimed at stimulating local economies by targeting 8,809 electoral wards across the country.
For her part, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’idu Ahmad, applauded the commitment of development partners and other stakeholders for the introduction of the initiative in Nigeria, noting that the Vice President’s vision has given strategic direction to the assignment of the secretariat.
She said the Federal Ministry of Education will endorse the GenU programme as a technical guide, particularly the skills census, noting that its output will be integrated into the ministry’s planning for vocational and skills training.
In her remarks, the UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef, thanked the Federal Government for the endorsement of the programme, stating that the hosting of the secretariat in the Office of the Vice President was a demonstration of commitment by the Nigerian government in the wellbeing of the youths.
She said UNICEF was excited, proud and encouraged at what Nigeria was doing, demonstrating leadership in the continent, particularly in maximizing the impact of all the accelerators for job creation.
The representative pledged UNICEF’s support and commitment for the GenU national secretariat, particularly “in bringing in technical expertise in specific programmes”.
In separate remarks, the Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation and MSME, Mr Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, and the coordinator of the Secretariat, Rimamskeb Nuhu, outlined the potentials of the programme to reverse the trend of unemployment among Nigeria’s youth population, leveraging existing platforms and programmes being implemented by the Federal Government.
Mr Adekunle-Johnson however, assured stakeholders of his support using the network of the Shared Hubs initiative of the National MSME Clinics, to deepen skills acquisition across different sectors.
For his part, Mr Nuhu sought the support of critical stakeholders to succeed in the project, saying, “We require two critical commitments from the ministries represented here today. First, we ask for your full support in the upcoming National Skills Census. This census will populate the NSO, establishing it as the ‘Single Source of Truth’ for skills intelligence under the National Council on Skills.
“Second, we seek formal representation from your respective ministries within the Secretariat itself. By embedding ministerial focal points within the delivery unit, we will ensure better inter-agency coordination, prevent the duplication of efforts, and guarantee the long-term sustainability of this sovereign system.”
