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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Federal Government has announced that compliance with the National Education Repository Databank (NERD) policy is now a prerequisite for participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
The government also said the enforcement extends far beyond the NYSC as agencies such as Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), as well as all accredited tertiary institutions, have been mandated to ensure NERD compliance as a condition for accessing their services.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, stated this in Abuja, yesterday, at the 2026 capacity building programme for school representatives on the implementation and enforcement of the NERD policy.
He explained that NERD has developed robust repository software and an indigenous anti-plagiarism system. It’s also a reform instrument, anchored on transparency, traceability and accountability, adding that the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS) component was designed to maintain a national digital footprint of every academic award obtained in accredited Nigerian institutions. He said the government would aggressively enforce compliance to end credential falsification and eliminate disputes over academic records. “To our NERD Focal Officers, Record Officers and Digitisation Officers, you are custodians of institutional credibility. The diligence with which you verify and upload records determine the trust employers, foreign institutions and regulatory bodies place in Nigerian qualifications. Compliance with national standards is not optional, it is statutory.
“To protect institutional autonomy, the Federal Government approved that 40 percent of profit-sharing from credential verification services reverts to the institution of origin. Although NERD is federally owned, it is collectively beneficial and participatory in structure.”
He commended the integration of practical demonstrations in the training for the participants, as well as dashboard walkthroughs, record uploads, verification management and compliance workflows, insisting that reform must not remain theoretical, but must be operational.
The Minister reiterated that the Federal Government has directed all relevant regulatory bodies to align with and enforce the NERD policy. “Institutions must adhere strictly to compliance timelines, establish robust internal verification systems, designate competent personnel and prioritise continuous digital capacity development.
“The future of Nigerian education is data-driven, transparent and digitally verifiable. The question is not whether this transformation will occur, it is whether we will lead it with discipline and rigour.”
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The Minister announced that since the launch of the policy a few months ago, NERD has curated and preserved close to 100,000 digital student submissions that would have been lost to obscurity. “Over 350 universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education have been onboarded for real-time credential verification.
“Similarly, more than 133,000 students and over 6,800 lecturers have enrolled on the platform supported by over 665 focal persons nationwide. Through collaboration with Nigerian digital entrepreneurs, NERD has also established 1,060 digital service centres across the country, creating over 3,000 direct jobs within four months. This is reform with
measurable impact.”
The Minister stressed that education is a covenant between the state and its citizens. “When a certificate is issued, it is not merely paper, it is a national guarantee that due process was followed and standards were upheld. That guarantee is only as strong as the integrity of our record-keeping systems.”
To further promote academic excellence, the Minister approved the establishment of the NERD Annual National Laureate Prize and Awards programme that will reward outstanding Undergraduate, Master’s and Doctoral thesis with prizes ranging from N5million to N20 million, with the maiden edition to be held in November 2026.
Chief Executive Officer of the NERD, Tunji Ariyomo, in his remarks, appreciated the innovation behind NERD, describing it as a solution to the cases of plagiarism and intellectual theft.
He noted that many valuable academic records and research outputs in Nigeria had historically been lost due to weak documentation and preservation systems.
“What does that say about us in Nigeria and about Africa? Our knowledge is not able to climb on the shoulders of previous knowledge. So, there is a gap,” he said.
Ariyomo explained that nations that preserve and validate knowledge over time are those that lead global development. “Nations that have preserved knowledge over a long period of time and where that knowledge can be validated, are the ones leading the world,” he said.
