EVERY year since 2004, except when COVID-19 reared its ugly head, the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas, (NLNG) sets aside a $100,000 grand prize as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to celebrate scientists who have through their work, impacted Nigeria and humanity. This year’s event to announce the winner of the Nigeria Prize for Science award was held at the Lagos Continental Hotel few days back.
On the high table were senior staff of the NLNG and the Advisory Board for the award led by its Chairman, Professor Bart Nnaji. Nnaji however dropped a bombshell when he told the audience that though the board received a total of 112 entries, none was deemed good enough to cart home the prize.
Most of the invited guests were stunned, and disappointment written on the faces of many. But Nnaji said that the Advisory Board was also disappointed by the development and that the painful decision had to be taken in order to protect the integrity of the award.
Established in 2004, the Nigeria Prize for Science encourages Nigerian scientists and their counterparts the world over to submit entries which they believed has had tremendous impact on the lives of the people.
The theme for the 2025 edition was: ‘’Innovations in ICT, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies for Development’’. The topic was a good choice, going by the impact AI and ICT is having on the world stage.
Even without being a scientist, the way and manner Artificial Intelligent is shaping our world has left many wondering whether there would still be a work force in the next 30 to 40 years with the ways and manner machines are complementing and, in some cases, taking over work hitherto reserved for human beings, all thanks to advancement in Science and Technology.
There are several tools that are now available to write news and edit stories. Recently, a Television Station used a robot to cast news in place of a human being. There are now robots that can perform wifely roles to a man who desires such. Drones have been developed that can deliver drugs to end-users, thereby shortening the supply chain bottleneck in areas where there is conflict or war. It is those kinds of entries that the organizers were looking forward to receiving, but in their words, what they got “were not up to the standards”.
Early this year, scientists and innovators worldwide were invited to compete for the $100,000 prize, which honours groundbreaking solutions to challenges relevant to Nigeria and Nigerians. The call for entry closed at midnight on April 30, 2025. To ensure a rigorous and credible process, a panel of judges comprising distinguished professors and relevant scientific experts was appointed by the Advisory Board and LNG Limited. The selection process also reflected both gender and ethnic balances.
At the inaugural meeting in Lagos, the panel of judges developed the 2025 Nigeria Prize for Science Entry’s evaluation criteria, which was subsequently approved by the Advisory Board. These criteria included academic track record, quality, recognitions, uniqueness, innovation, impact, commercialisation, soundness, and patent.
At the close of submissions and 112 entries received, the panel of judges found 54 to be valid and progressed for adjudication. Then, the judges conducted independent reviews and produced a shortlist of 10, with the top four entries ratified by the Advisory Board for further evaluation with a view to choosing a winner.
But at the end of the day, it was unanimously concluded that all submissions, while they demonstrated commendable effort, lacked the soundness, usability, and impact that characterized past awards. The judges also discovered that some entries did not fully address all three thematic areas, while showing weakness in the practicality of the innovations in solving scenario-specific problems, lack of clarity on the operability of the innovations, and, no evidence of robust field testing of the innovations.
Indeed, the advisory board must be commended for taking the tough but necessary decision not to award this year’s prize for Science to anyone. As stated by Prof. Nnaji and reiterated by Dr. (Mrs.) Nike Akande, the board were more interested in innovations that is presently having a positive impact on Nigerians as most past winners have demonstrated through their works.
Just last year, the trio of Dr. Olajide Otitoju, Dr. Eni Oko, and Professor Meihong Wang won the prize for their research on Process Intensification Technology for Greenhouse Emission Control. Their entry was a brilliant scientific work that focuses on developing solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainable fuel production.
Otitoju is a Chemical Engineer and post-doctoral research Associate at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, while Oko is a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University, also in the UK, while Professor Wang is the Process and Energy Systems Engineering Research Group at the University of Sheffield, also in the UK.
The trio came together using their knowledge to provide a technological solution for capturing and utilizing carbon dioxide, which helps in sustainable fuel production and reducing carbon emissions. This contributes greatly to global efforts to combat climate change.
The devastating effect that climate change in having on our environment, particularly in Northern Nigeria cannot be overemphasized and for the trio to come up with a solution that could reduce emissions in our environment deserves all the accolades.
In the same vein, Professor Hippolite Amadi emerged as the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Science 2023 on his entry, “Innovation for Enhancement of Healthcare Therapy”. His three (3) technological innovations, aimed at saving the lives of neonates by making the delivery of oxygen cheap and easy at birth, is highly commendable.
His first invention, the non-invasive Neonatal Ventilator (The bubble PoliteCPAP) is a key invention for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) ventilation of very low-birth-weight neonates. His second innovation, the Oxygen Delivery Blender System, allows for the safe delivery of oxygen without the danger of toxicity; and the third is the Oxygen Splitter System, which allows for the use of a shared source of oxygen to many neonates at a time in situations where piped oxygen is not available.
With a career spanning over three decades since 1987, Professor Amadi has made significant contributions to the fields of Engineering in Healthcare, Orthopaedics, and Neonatology research. His journey began when he graduated as the top student in Mechanical Engineering from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology in 1988. Professor Amadi’s global expertise in Orthopaedic Biomechanics and Neonatal innovations for low-income settings has been shaped by his exceptional academic achievements. As a former student and now a Professor at Imperial College London, UK, he has earned multiple postgraduate medical degrees, including a PhD.
His dedication to medical practice and research has led to the establishment of a dynamic team comprising nurses, doctors, and technicians. This team has covered more than 30 tertiary hospitals across Nigeria over the past two decades, granting Amadi unparalleled access to a vast repository of evidence-based data on a national scale.
Professor Amadi’s impact extends beyond Nigeria. He is a recognised figure in global discussions on the African perspective of climate change’s impact on neonatal health, earning him a consistent place on the lists of influential thinkers by organizations such as WHO, Wellcome Trust, and the World Bank. His exceptional accomplishments have also earned him a prestigious spot in the Imperial College, London’s Hall of Fame as part of the alumni’s story series.
In 2022, the Nigeria Prize for Science was awarded jointly to two research teams: Sesan Peter Ayodeji and Emmanuel Olatunji Olatomilola, for their work on ‘’Process Plant for Plantain Flour’’, and Muhyideen Oyekunle, and Shehu Garki Ado for their research on ‘’Grains in Grain Yield of Released Maize (Zea Mays L) Cultivars Under Drought and Well-Watered Conditions”.
With so much work done in the area of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies, the Advisory Board believes that there are many breakthroughs in that field already that is sharpening the local economy in Nigeria and the world at large and that the theme should be retained for next year. But to change the narrative, the sponsor of the prize, NLNG, has agreed to pump the $100,000 prize money for this year into publicising the award so that more scientists would be aware of the programme and put in their entries next year.
The General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, NLNG, Sophia Horsfall, is of the view that research has shown the immense potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and digital technologies in reshaping global industries and societies, offering innovative solutions to some of humanity’s most pressing challenges, whist acknowledging the fact that as the world transitions from the Industrial Age to the Intelligence Age, these advancements provide new opportunities to drive economic growth, foster social progress, and build a sustainable future.
While the Nigeria Prize for Science has produced no winner this year, its twin brothers, the Nigeria Prize for Literature, as well as the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism, one of the country’s most prestigious literary accolades, which shifted focus to Prose Fiction for the 2025 edition, would have their winners announced this weekend.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature winner will go home with the sum of $100,000, while the Prize for Literary Criticism is $10,000.
With the no-winner for the Nigeria Prize for Science this year, it is hoped that our scientists would put in more efforts into research and winning the prestigious award. Prof Nnaji and the Advisory Board have also demonstrated exemplary conduct by not awarding arbitrarily. By so doing, they have protected the integrity of the award.
See you next week.
- Akintunde is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Glittersonline newspaper. His syndicated column, Monday Discourse, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Monday.