The Federal Government has made it mandatory for students to submit their final-year projects before they can be mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
This new rule follows President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of a major reform under Sections 2(4)(4) and 16(1)(C) of the NYSC Act.
The reform makes compliance with the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) a requirement for either mobilisation into NYSC or exemption from the scheme.
The directive, issued through a circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, will take effect from October 6.
Under the NERD policy, students are expected to upload academic works, including theses and project reports, into a national database. The aim is to tackle certificate fraud, preserve Nigeria’s intellectual assets, and strengthen academic integrity.
According to the policy, “as a quality assurance check and as a yearly independent proof of continuous academic enrolment and affiliation,” every submission is expected to serve as a permanent record of academic activities and scholarship, regardless of location (Section 6.1.23).
This move had been signalled earlier in March 2025, when the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the “Declaration of Effectiveness” for NERD. At the time, he explained that, “the approved stipulations for mandatory submission of academic outputs as provided in Sections 2.3, 4.3(1), and 7.6.11(c), among others, of the approved National Policy for the NERD Programme shall become obligatory requirements in Nigeria.”
Explaining how it will work, NERD spokesperson Haula Galadima said every student submission will carry the full names of the student, supervisor, co-supervisor (where applicable), Head of Department, as well as the sponsoring institution and department.
Galadima stressed: “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.”
The circular also directed all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), as well as higher institutions (public and private, civilian and military), to ensure full compliance with the NERD policy.
Additionally, agencies like the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) are to provide data-sharing support via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to make student onboarding and data validation seamless.
