Tunji Alausa, minister of education, says compliance with the Nigeria Education Repository and Data Park (NERD) is now required for participation in, or exemption from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Established in 2023 in response to the growing outrage over
persistent certificate racketeering, NERD serves as a national digital
initiative for managing, preserving, and verifying education data and records
in collaboration with government and private sector partners.
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja during a national capacity
building programme for school representatives, Alausa noted that the initiative
was aimed at strengthening institutional compliance and curbing academic fraud.
“It is important to clarify that while NERD compliance is
now a prerequisite for participation in, or exemption from, the National Youth
Service Corps, enforcement extends far beyond NYSC,” the minister said.
“Agencies such as TETFund, the National Universities
Commission, the National Board for Technical Education, the National Commission
for Colleges of Education, and the Industrial Training Fund, as well as all
accredited tertiary institutions, are mandated to ensure compliance as a
condition for accessing their services.”
He noted that NERD is therefore a reform instrument,
anchored on transparency, traceability, and accountability.
“The National Credential Verification Service component will
maintain a national digital footprint of every academic award obtained in
accredited Nigerian institutions,” Alausa said.
”We will aggressively enforce compliance to end credential
falsification and eliminate disputes over academic records.”
According to him, the NERD platform is a strategic national
digital infrastructure designed to secure, standardise, digitise, and
authenticate academic records across post-secondary and tertiary institutions
nationwide.
“The Nigeria Education Repository and Databank is not merely
a technology platform but a strategic national infrastructure for securing and
verifying academic records,” he said.
He cited components like the national credential number and
the federated repository of academic test and assurance, noting that within
four months of enforcement, the platform had curated nearly 100,000 digital
student submissions and onboarded more than 350 universities, polytechnics,
monotechnics, and colleges of education for real-time credential verification.
The minister also said more than 133,000 students and 6,800
lecturers are currently enrolled on the platform, supported by more than 655
focal persons nationwide.
According to him, more than 1,000 digital service centres
had been established in collaboration with Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.
Alausa emphasised the importance of protecting academic
certificate integrity to maintain trust in Nigeria’s education system.
“Let me emphasise 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,” he said.
“Before President Tinubu came into government, there was a
whistleblower who reported about Nigerians going to the Republic of Benin to
study. Some people were getting PhD certificates in just six months,
universities that never existed, universities in one-room apartments, giving
certificates.
“But today, I can report to you that we moved quickly as a
government. Based on the President’s directive, we conducted full
investigations. That has been put to a complete stop. And all of those people
that got those illegal certificates have all been thrown out of our civil
service, public service.”
To promote academic excellence, the minister announced the
establishment of the NERD annual national knowledge prize and award programme,
which will reward outstanding undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral theses with
prizes ranging from N5 million to N20 million.
He urged tertiary institutions to establish robust internal
verification systems, designate competent personnel, and prioritise digital
capacity development to strengthen compliance and accountability.
Responding, Tunji Ariyomo, chief executive officer of NERD,
said preserving the country’s knowledge and historical records is critical,
warning that poor documentation has created gaps that hinder knowledge growth.
He explained that the platform documents academic projects,
theses, and dissertations along with supervisors, co-supervisors, and
departmental heads, strengthening accountability and improving the quality of
academic supervision.
Ariyomo added that the platform also addresses copyright and
intellectual property issues for students, lecturers, and institutions,
ensuring proper recognition and protection of academic work.
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