The Federal Government has made it compulsory for all graduates to submit their theses and final-year projects into the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) before they can be mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
A circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, confirmed that President Bola Tinubu approved the new policy, which takes effect from October 6.
A circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, confirmed that President Bola Tinubu approved the new policy, which takes effect from October 6.
The NERD policy requires students to upload their academic work—such as theses and project reports—into a national digital repository. According to Section 6.1.23 of the guidelines, the move serves “as a quality assurance check and as a yearly independent proof of continuous academic enrolment and affiliation.”
Explaining the objective of the reform, 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 added that the repository will capture detailed metadata: “Each item shall feature the full name of the student, those of his supervisor, co-supervisor if any, and that of the Head of Department, as well as the sponsoring institution and department.”
Galadima also noted that the reform could improve supervision quality in universities: “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.”
Earlier in March, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had declared the NERD policy effective, emphasising that the submission of academic outputs would become mandatory under sections of the national guidelines.
The policy also introduces a monetisation framework to reward both students and lecturers for deposited academic work, enabling them to earn lifetime royalties.
According to the SGF’s circular, the new directive will apply to graduates of Nigerian universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and foreign institutions, but excludes serving corps members and those mobilised before October 6.
The Federal Government said the reform is aimed at curbing certificate forgery, protecting Nigeria’s intellectual property, and strengthening the credibility of academic qualifications.
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