Tinubu Approves New NYSC Regulation, Makes Thesis Submission and NERD Compliance Mandatory for Mobilisation.
In a far-reaching reform that could reshape Nigeria’s higher education and youth service framework, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has officially approved a new regulation mandating strict compliance with the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) Policy as a prerequisite for mobilisation into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or for securing exemption from it.
The directive, which is anchored on the provisions of Sections 2(4)(4) and 16(1)(C) of the NYSC Act, was conveyed through an enforcement circular recently issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume. According to the circular, all prospective corps members, whether trained in Nigeria or overseas, must now provide verifiable evidence of compliance with the NERD Policy before they can be mobilised or considered for exemption from the one-year mandatory service.
The NERD Policy, which was first introduced by the Federal Ministry of Education, seeks to create a comprehensive national database of Nigeria’s academic outputs theses, dissertations, and project reports. The initiative aims to combat certificate forgery, academic fraud, and the undervaluing of Nigeria’s intellectual heritage, while at the same time boosting the quality of scholarship nationwide.
A major clause in the policy, Section 6.1.23, stipulates that students must deposit their academic works into the repository as part of a quality assurance measure and as a means of establishing “time-stamped” evidence of scholarship. This provision is expected to strengthen accountability in universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education by permanently recording both the students’ and their supervisors’ intellectual footprints.
The SGF’s circular clarified an earlier statement by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who announced that effective October 6, 2025, no Nigerian graduate whether from a local institution or from abroad would be mobilised for or exempted from the NYSC without proof of NERD compliance.
The directive, however, does not affect corps members already serving or those mobilised before the enforcement date. Beginning March 30 of every year, all higher institutions and relevant organisations are also mandated to submit annual compliance reports to NERD to ensure continuous monitoring, evaluation, and enforcement.
The policy is regarded by many as a masterstroke in protecting Nigeria’s intellectual resources. For decades, thousands of students’ research outputs have languished in university libraries and departmental archives unread, unorganised, and largely inaccessible. By centralising and digitising these works, the government hopes to unlock knowledge with the potential to transform agriculture, medicine, engineering, social sciences, and governance.
NERD spokesperson, Haula Galadima, elaborated on the integrity safeguards embedded in the system. She explained that each deposited academic item would carry the full names of the student, their supervisor, co-supervisor (if any), the Head of Department (HoD), and the sponsoring institution. This transparency, she argued, would discourage poor supervision and raise the quality of academic work nationwide.
Beyond compliance, the President has also approved a monetisation and reward mechanism for both students and lecturers. This innovation, which was part of Dr. Alausa’s submission to the Federal Executive Council, will allow academic authors to earn lifetime royalties from their deposited works. Each university and higher institution is also encouraged to establish a local repository, feeding into the national databank, thereby strengthening Nigeria’s academic ecosystem.
The federal government’s directive further instructed Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as well as higher institutions of learning to ensure full enforcement of the NERD Policy. Data bodies such as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) are expected to provide integration and validation support through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to streamline student onboarding and data verification processes.
Education stakeholders have hailed the move as a bold step in addressing certificate racketeering, academic malpractice, and the devaluation of Nigerian qualifications. Analysts say that by linking NYSC mobilisation with proof of academic work submission, the government is essentially ensuring that graduates contribute to the national pool of knowledge before moving into the labour market.
The NYSC, which has traditionally served as a bridge between higher education and national service, will now double as a quality assurance checkpoint. Only graduates with verifiable academic contributions will be cleared to serve or exempted, thereby restoring public trust in the nation’s educational processes.
Ultimately, the NERD Policy is positioned as Nigeria’s strategic response to intellectual waste and systemic weaknesses in higher education. By institutionalising compulsory submission of theses and research projects, and tying it to a major national programme like NYSC, the Tinubu administration aims to:
- Safeguard intellectual property and prevent academic fraud.
- Enhance supervision and academic quality across universities and polytechnics.
- Unlock dormant research findings for national development.
- Provide financial incentives to both students and lecturers.
- Strengthen collaboration between higher institutions, government, and critical data agencies.
With this directive, Nigeria has effectively entered a new era where knowledge is treated as a national asset and where academic achievement is directly linked to civic responsibility through the NYSC framework.
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