The Federal Government has approved a new policy making the submission of students’ theses and final-year projects into the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) a compulsory requirement for mobilisation into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Effective from October 6, no graduate—whether trained in Nigeria or abroad—will be mobilised for or exempted from NYSC without proof of compliance. The directive was contained in a circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, who conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s approval.
According to the circular, the NYSC mobilisation criteria have been revised in line with the President’s regulation, requiring proof of NERD policy compliance for all prospective corps members, regardless of their institution of study.
The NERD guidelines stipulate that students must deposit their academic outputs, such as theses and project reports, into the national database. Section 6.1.23 of the policy notes that the measure serves as a quality assurance check and provides yearly independent proof of continuous academic enrolment and affiliation.
Explaining the intent of the reform, NERD spokesperson Haula Galadima said the digitisation programme aims to raise the quality of academic content and presentation nationwide.
“The database will capture every detail of academic work deposited. Each item shall feature the student’s full name, supervisor(s), Head of Department, and the sponsoring institution,” she explained.
She added that the reform is also designed to raise supervision standards. “If our eminent scholars know their names will appear next to students’ works on a globally available digital platform, very few would want to be associated with poorly produced projects.”
Earlier in March, while declaring the NERD policy effective, Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, stressed that submission of academic outputs had become mandatory.
A copy of the approved policy also revealed that President Tinubu endorsed an academic output monetisation mechanism to allow students and lecturers to earn lifetime revenues from their deposits.
The SGF’s circular clarified that enforcement will apply to all graduates from Nigerian universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and foreign institutions but will not affect serving corps members or those mobilised before the October 6 enforcement date.
According to the Federal Government, the reform is aimed at curbing certificate racketeering, securing Nigeria’s intellectual property, and strengthening the credibility of higher education qualifications.
