President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a major reform linking participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to compliance with the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
The president invoked Sections 2(4)(4) and 16(1)(C) of the NYSC Act to make NERD compliance a mandatory requirement for mobilisation into or exemption from the NYSC scheme.
The directive was included in Item 2(ix) of an enforcement circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, who confirmed that all prospective corps members — whether trained locally or abroad — must now provide proof of compliance with the NERD policy before mobilisation.
The policy is aimed at curbing certificate racketeering and misuse of academic honours. One of its key requirements mandates Nigerian students to deposit academic outputs, such as theses and project reports, in the national repository.
According to Section 6.1.23 of the policy, this requirement acts as a quality assurance measure and provides an independent, time-stamped record of students’ academic activities and enrolment.
In March 2025, Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa declared that mandatory submission of academic outputs under the NERD programme had officially become a national requirement.
