President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a significant reform to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, mandating compliance with the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) as a prerequisite for mobilisation or exemption.
Under this policy, effective from October 6, 2025, all prospective corps members, whether trained in Nigeria or abroad, are required to submit proof of NERD compliance. This involves depositing academic outputs, such as theses, dissertations, or project reports, into the NERD repository, a centralised digital platform managed by the Ministry of Education.
The directive, issued through an enforcement circular by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, aims to enhance the integrity of Nigeria’s academic qualifications, curb certificate racketeering, and safeguard intellectual assets.
Key Features of NERD Policy
Mandatory Thesis Submission: Graduates must upload their academic works to the NERD repository to be eligible for NYSC mobilisation or exemption. This requirement ensures a verifiable, time-stamped record of academic activity, reducing fraudulent practices like certificate forgery.
Scope and Applicability: The policy covers all graduates, including those from foreign institutions, ensuring a unified standard for NYSC eligibility. Current corps members or those already enrolled in the scheme are exempt from this requirement.
Monetisation and Incentives: President Tinubu has approved a monetisation mechanism, allowing students and lecturers to earn long-term revenue from their deposited academic works. This incentivizes high-quality research and supervision.
Institutional Collaboration: Higher institutions are mandated to establish local repositories that integrate with the NERD platform. This fosters collaboration and eliminates the fragmented, siloed approach to academic record-keeping.
Data Integration: Agencies like the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) will provide API support to facilitate seamless verification of academic credentials.
According to NERD spokesperson Haula Galadima, the policy promotes transparency by attaching the names of students, supervisors, co-supervisors, and heads of departments to each submitted work. This public record, accessible globally, is expected to elevate academic standards by holding lecturers accountable for the quality of supervision. “NERD is not just about verifying authenticity,” Galadima stated. “It’s about raising the bar for academic supervision and output across Nigeria.”
What This Means
The reform addresses longstanding issues of certificate racketeering, which have undermined the credibility of Nigerian qualifications both domestically and internationally. By creating a secure, centralized repository, the government aims to protect intellectual property, streamline academic verification, and enhance the global reputation of Nigeria’s education system.
The NERD compliance requirement takes effect on October 6, 2025. From this date, only graduates who provide proof of thesis or project submission to the NERD repository will be eligible for NYSC mobilisation or exemption. Institutions are urged to prepare their local repositories and ensure compliance to avoid delays in graduate mobilisation.
