Federal Government, through the Ministry of Education, is implementing the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank, NERD, a major digital initiative designed to centralize, secure, and verify academic records nationwide.
Speaking at the 2026 National Capacity Building programme on the Implementation and Enforcement of the Nigeria Education Repository and Data Bank, NERD Police, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa said NERD represents the federal government’s firm commitment to education data ownership, zero tolerance for academic fraud, and the preservation of national academic history.
According to Alausa, NERD was approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, in March 2025 to combat certificate fraud, eliminate fake degrees, and create a permanent archive for research.
He said NERD was established as the digitisation vehicle of Nigeria’s education sector, with a mandate that includes the administration of National Credential Numbers (NCN), the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS), and the National Students
Clearinghouse is a federated repository of academic texts and abstracts, and a National Academic Publication and Indexing Database.
The programme with the theme, ‘Strengthening Institutional Compliance and Academic Records Integrity,’ is part of a broader plan to achieve 95 percent digital literacy by 2030,
Explaining further, the minister said within just four months of enforcement, NERD had curated and preserved close to 100,000 digital student submissions that might otherwise have been lost to obscurity.
“Over 350 universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education have been onboarded for real-time credential verification. More than 133,000 students and over 6,800 lecturers are now enrolled on the platform, supported by over 665 focal persons nationwide.
“In addition, through collaboration with Nigerian digital entrepreneurs,
NERD has established 1,060 Digital Service Centres across the country, creating over 3,000 direct jobs within four months. This is reform with measurable impact.”
To further promote academic excellence, the minister said he approved the establishment of the NERD Annual National Laureate Prize and Awards Programme, which would reward outstanding undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral theses with prizes ranging from N5 million to N20 million.
He also emphasised that NERD compliance is now a prerequisite for participation in, or exemption from, the National Youth Service Corps,NYSC, saying that enforcement extends far beyond NYSC.
With the NERD initiative, starting with the 2025 Batch C National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, mobilisation, all graduates from Nigerian and foreign institutions must upload their final projects or theses to the NERD portal to obtain a clearance certificate.
“Agencies such as 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, are mandated to ensure compliance as a condition for accessing their services.
“NERD is therefore a reform instrument, anchored on transparency, traceability, and accountability. The National Credential Verification Service (NCVS) component will maintain a national digital footprint of every academic award obtained in accredited Nigerian institutions. We will aggressively enforce compliance to end credential falsification and eliminate disputes over academic records,” the minister said.
Speaking on compliance with national standards as statutory, Alausa said 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 said.
Alausa said the FG 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. Furthermore, in line with local content regulations, only nationally developed applications should be procured for ICT-related services within our institutions.
“NERD has developed robust repository software and an indigenous anti-plagiarism system. It would contradict national interest to ignore what we fully own in favour of foreign alternatives,” he said.
The minister therefore tasked NERD Focal Officers, Record Officers, and Digitisation Officers on diligence.