By Funmilola Gboteku
A Nigerian artificial intelligence, GenScan AI, developed by Mary-Brenda Akoda has won the $100,000 2026 Nigeria Prize for Science and Innovation (NPSI).
Dr Sophia Horsfall, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, announced this at the prize conference in Lagos on Tuesday.
Horsfall said the innovation, GenScan AI, is capable of cutting MRI scan time by up to 90 per cent, hence improving scanner utilisation, reduce patient waiting times and expand MRI access without new hardware.
She said GenScan AI was developed by Akoda and emerged winner from a record 237 entries submitted for the competition.
The innovation uses C-MORE, an artificial intelligence algorithm designed to reconstruct MRI images through a one-step consistency-model framework.
Horsfall said the technology demonstrated how artificial intelligence could tackle practical healthcare challenges while improving existing medical infrastructure.
She said the return of a winner after the 2025 competition produced a “no winner” verdict demonstrated the Prize’s uncompromising standards.
“If an entry is declared worthy of the Prize today, we can be confident that it has earned that distinction,” Horsfall said.
She said the 237 entries represented the highest number received since the Prize began, reflecting growing interest in Nigerian science and innovation.
According to her, the Panel of Judges, chaired by Dr Omobola Johnson, independently assessed the entries before the Advisory Board endorsed its recommendation.
Horsfall said the evaluation considered scientific innovation, technical soundness, developmental impact and the potential for commercial scalability.
Prof. Barth Nnaji, Chairman of the NPSI Advisory Board, said GenScan AI stood out by combining advanced artificial intelligence with practical healthcare applications.
Nnaji said the assessment focused not only on scientific novelty, but also measurable impact and prospects for real-world application.
He said GenScan AI could improve medical imaging by making MRI examinations faster, enabling hospitals to serve more patients using existing equipment.
“The development is particularly significant for healthcare systems where MRI machines are limited, expensive to operate and often associated with long patient waiting times,” he said.
Nnaji said C-MORE was designed to reconstruct MRI images while maintaining or improving image quality despite substantially reducing acquisition time.
He said Akoda’s innovation emerged after judges compared it with two other shortlisted submissions during the 2026 adjudication process.
Nnaji said Akoda was the first millennial and woman to win the Nigeria Prize for Science and Innovation as an individual recipient.
He added that her victory represented the 12th occasion a winning work had been recognised during the Prize’s 22-year history.
Akoda will receive the 100,000-dollar prize at the Grand Award Night scheduled for Oct. 9, in recognition of the innovation.
Akoda is a first-class Computer Science graduate of Goldsmiths University of London, with a Master of Research in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
She obtained the master’s degree with Distinction from Imperial College London as a Google DeepMind Scholar.
Akoda previously worked as a software engineer and AI research scientist at Microsoft.
The 2026 competition retained the theme, ‘Innovations in Artificial Intelligence, ICT and Digital Technologies for Development.’
The Prize is one of NLNG’s flagship initiatives supporting scientific excellence, research and innovation.
The 2026 competition attracted the highest number of entries since inception, following the “no winner” outcome recorded in 2025. (NAN)
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