The Federal Government has introduced a new policy requiring all graduates to submit their theses or final-year projects to the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) before they can be mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
According to a circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, and approved by President Bola Tinubu, the directive will take effect on October 6. From that date, no graduate – whether trained in Nigeria or abroad – will be mobilised or exempted from the NYSC without proof of compliance.
The circular explained that the “NYSC mobilisation criteria [have been adjusted] in accordance with the President’s regulation requiring proof of NERD Policy compliance for all prospective corps members, regardless of where they were educated.”
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The policy, as outlined in Section 6.1.23 of the NERD guidelines, mandates the deposit of academic works into the national database to serve “as a quality assurance check and as a yearly independent proof of continuous academic enrolment and affiliation.”
NERD spokesperson Haula 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.”
She explained that every submission will carry full details of the student, their supervisor, co-supervisor (if any), Head of Department, and the sponsoring institution.
“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,” Galadima added.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had earlier declared that the submission of academic works would become obligatory, citing sections of the NERD policy that made it a mandatory requirement.
A copy of the policy also showed that President Tinubu approved a mechanism that allows both students and lecturers to earn royalties from their deposited academic works.
The SGF clarified that the directive covers all graduates of universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and foreign institutions, but exempts those already serving or mobilised before October 6.
The Federal Government noted that the reform seeks to tackle certificate forgery, protect intellectual property, and improve the credibility of higher education in Nigeria.
