By Palang Paul
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a new directive making compliance with the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) a compulsory requirement for mobilisation into, or exemption from, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
According to the circular issued on Sunday in Abuja by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, the enforcement takes effect from October 6, 2025. From that date, no Nigerian graduate—whether from local universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, or overseas institutions—will be mobilised for or exempted from NYSC without proof of compliance with the NERD policy.
The directive, however, will not affect corps members currently serving or those enrolled before the enforcement date.
Akume explained that the move was in line with President Tinubu’s approval of the adjustment of NYSC mobilisation criteria to ensure every prospective corps member submits academic outputs to the national database.
> “The compliance directive conveys the approval for the adjustment of NYSC mobilisation criteria in accordance with the President’s regulation requiring proof of NERD Policy compliance for all prospective corps members, regardless of where they were educated,” Akume stated.
Under the new policy, students must deposit academic outputs—such as theses and project reports—into the NERD system. This is expected to serve as a quality assurance mechanism and provide an independently verifiable proof of continuous academic enrolment and scholarship.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had earlier in March 2025 declared the NERD policy effective, stressing that the requirement applies to all education delivery institutions—public or private, military or civilian, including specialised centres, colleges of nursing, agriculture, and research institute
President Tinubu also approved an academic output monetisation and reward mechanism, allowing students and their lecturers to earn lifetime revenues from their deposits. Institutions are further encouraged to establish local repositories to strengthen collaboration and end the siloed approach to academic storage.
The Federal Government has directed higher institutions, MDAs, and data agencies—including the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)—to provide inter-organisational data exchange through APIs to aid validation and onboarding.
NERD spokesperson Haula Galadima highlighted the transparency goals of the policy, noting that every deposited work will bear the full names of the student, supervisor(s), head of department, and sponsoring institution.
> “NERD aims to raise the quality of academic output nationwide. Knowing that their names will appear alongside students’ works on a global digital platform will motivate supervisors and lecturers to demand higher standards,” Galadima explained.
She added that onboarding for MDAs, higher institutions, and corporate organisations is available at https://ned.gov.ng/onboarding.
With this policy, the Federal Government expects to digitise Nigeria’s academic outputs, improve supervision in higher institutions, and integrate education data into a unified national framework.
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