President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a policy making the submission of academic outputs, including theses and project reports, mandatory for mobilisation into or exemption from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The directive reportedly aligns with the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
Compliance with NERD Now Mandatory
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, recently issued a circular outlining the adjustment of NYSC mobilisation criteria in line with the President’s directive.
The circular makes proof of NERD compliance a compulsory requirement for all prospective Corps members, regardless of where they studied.
The policy targets certificate racketeering, ensures quality assurance in academic submissions, and provides a verifiable record of scholarly activity.
Section 6.1.23 of the NERD policy states that academic outputs will be time-stamped to serve as independent proof of continuous enrolment and affiliation.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, explained that the NERD policy applies equally to all educational institutions—public, private, military, civilian, and overseas.
Effective October 6, 2025, no graduate will be mobilised for or exempted from NYSC without evidence of compliance.
The directive does not affect those currently serving or enrolled before the enforcement date.
Raising Standards and Accountability
NERD also introduces an academic output monetisation and reward system for students and lecturers, enabling them to earn revenue from their submissions.
Each institution is encouraged to maintain a local repository connected to a national platform, creating a collaborative framework among previously isolated institutions.
Haula Galadima, NERD spokesperson, highlighted the programme’s overarching goal, stating:
“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. One way NERD intends to accomplish this task, based on its mandate, is to strengthen the supervision processes in the nation’s higher institutions without getting involved in the processes. 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. NERD is therefore poised to help each lecturer earn his ‘earned allowances’ by providing thorough supervision.”
Galadima added that each submission will include the names of the student, supervisor, co-supervisor (if any), head of department, and sponsoring institution to ensure full transparency and accountability.
Critical data agencies, such as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), will provide support through inter-agency data exchange systems to validate submissions across institutions.