President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a major reform that links the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) mobilisation process directly to the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
Citing Sections 2(4)(4) and 16(1)(C) of the NYSC Act, President Tinubu directed that starting October 6, no graduate—from either a Nigerian or foreign institution—will be mobilised for, or exempted from, NYSC service without first complying with the NERD policy.
The directive was conveyed through a circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
The NERD framework is part of a national effort to curb certificate fraud and preserve Nigeria’s intellectual assets.
Under this framework, students must deposit their academic outputs, including project reports and theses.
According to Section 6.1.23 of the policy, this mandatory requirement serves as proof of academic enrollment and an independent quality assurance measure.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had earlier declared the effectiveness of NERD in March 2025, stating that its stipulations for the mandatory submission of academic outputs would become “obligatory requirements in Nigeria.”
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NERD spokesperson Haula Galadima highlighted the importance of the directive, explaining that every student submission must include the student’s full name, the supervisor, co-supervisor (if applicable), and Head of Department, along with the sponsoring institution and department.
Galadima said, “Apart from the mandate to verify for authenticity as a national flagship, the NERD digitisation programme has a clear objective – to raise the bar in the quality of academic content, output and presentation nationwide.
“One way NERD intends to accomplish this task, based on its mandate, is to strengthen the supervision processes in the nation’s higher institutions without getting involved in the processes.
“If our eminent scholars are aware that their names will appear next to those of the students they supervise on a globally available digital platform, there is the likelihood that each lecturer would up his or her standard.
“Very few lecturers would want their names associated with poorly produced academic works. NERD is therefore poised to help each lecturer earn his ‘earned allowances’ by providing thorough supervision.”
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