Ondo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, has hailed the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) as the most important reform in the sector since the country’s return to democracy in 1999.
Speaking in Akure, the former Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University praised President Bola Tinubu and Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa for implementing the long-delayed initiative, which he said would end certificate racketeering and curb illegal diploma mills.
Ajibefun, who contributed to drafting the NERD policy, described it as transformative—digitising theses, dissertations and academic records from the inception of higher education in Nigeria. He added that the scheme would also unify credential verification, strengthen governance of research, and enhance transparency across tertiary institutions.
He welcomed the creation of the National Publication Index under the programme, which will provide a local alternative to foreign academic databases. He said the reform would help build indigenous capacity, reduce foreign exchange losses and curb predatory publishing. The NERD policy, approved in February and declared effective in April 2025, includes a credential verification service, national student numbers, a thesis repository, and a publication indexing platform.
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