The Federal Executive Council has approved the full implementation of the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), a nationwide programme aimed at digitising and verifying academic records across all post-secondary institutions in Nigeria.
The official announcement was made following the signing of the Declaration of Effectiveness by Dr. Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, on behalf of the Federal Government.
After receiving presidential and council approval, the NERD programme officially took effect on February 4, 2025.
The new system will be a central hub for storing, administering, and verifying academic data. It applies to all post-secondary institutions in Nigeria, including public, private, civilian, and military institutions, as well as universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, nursing schools, agricultural schools, and other specialised schools, regardless of ownership or supervising ministry.
The programme aims to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on foreign platforms for education data management, curb academic fraud, and reduce capital flight. It introduces several tools to enhance integrity in the education sector, including a mandatory anti-plagiarism check for final academic reports and a National Credential Number (NCN) with a unique QR code on all certificates, diplomas, transcripts, and results, allowing for instant verification.
To support student identity and prevent fake admissions, all students admitted through JAMB will now be registered on the National Students’ Clearing House under the NERD system. This will ensure the issuance of a National Student Number and facilitate the tracking of academic progress from entry to graduation.
The federal government has also approved the launch of the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS), which is responsible for verifying the authenticity of all academic documents issued in Nigeria. This move targets fake qualifications, forged transcripts, and bogus honours from unaccredited institutions.
A National Repository of Knowledge will now serve as a compulsory archive for all final-year projects, theses, and dissertations.
Academic publications will also benefit from introducing NERD-indexed journals, which will be recognised locally for career advancement and promotion and are comparable to SCOPUS, SCImago, and CNKI. These journals will be reviewed by experts both in Nigeria and abroad.
To encourage local research and reduce the financial burden of publishing in high-impact foreign journals, the NERD system will support monetisation rewards for lecturers and students based on data-mining insights from their research works.
The entire project is privately sector-financed and valued at $68.8 million. It is expected to position Nigeria as a leading force in Africa’s education data and electronic document management sector, projected to hit $9.85 billion globally by 2027.
A Governing Council has been established to oversee the project, with the Minister of Education serving as its chairman. The council includes key stakeholders such as the Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry, heads of regulatory agencies like NUC, NBTE, and NCCE, and representatives from the data and digital economy sectors.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed that all authors retain the copyright of their works in the NERD system and urged institutions to support the reward mechanisms attached to the initiative. According to insiders, he aims to ensure Nigeria achieves commercial leadership in education data management across the continent.
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