The Federal Government is collaborating with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to strengthen the digital integration of education records as part of efforts to curb certificate racketeering and improve the verification of academic qualifications.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Tuesday when the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig Gen Olakunle Nafiu, led a delegation to the ministry in Abuja.
Alausa said the digital reforms being implemented under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda would help close loopholes in the management and verification of academic records while making it easier to authenticate qualifications across the education system.
He said the digital transformation of the education sector was strengthening the integrity of academic qualifications, tackling certificate fraud and ensuring that genuine students and graduates were not disadvantaged.
According to him, the Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank (NERD) is being used to collect and verify university certificates, track learners throughout the education system and provide support to tertiary institutions through help-desk officers.
The minister added that the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure would connect records from different stages of a learner’s educational journey.
He also disclosed that the ministry had digitised its Education Support Services, including certificate verification and processes involving foreign applicants.
Alausa said discussions were ongoing with the NYSC on developing an application programming interface that would enable faster verification and seamless exchange of relevant data between the two institutions.
He explained that the initiative would address administrative and data-related challenges that had prevented some qualified graduates from participating fully in the national service programme and accessing opportunities in the labour market.
Among the challenges identified by the minister were discrepancies in names, issues involving graduates of part-time National Diploma programmes and the admission of National Certificate in Education holders into Higher National Diploma programmes.
He said the ministry would collaborate with the National Board for Technical Education, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, National Identity Management Commission and other relevant stakeholders to develop lasting solutions.
Alausa said the proposed reforms would also include the introduction of a national Learner Identification Number and a uniform framework for recording and sequencing names across government education and identity databases.
The initiative is part of renewed efforts by the Federal Government to strengthen the authentication of academic credentials used for employment and mobilisation for national service.
In September 2025, the government directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies to begin using the National Credential Verification Service to authenticate the academic certificates of staff and new employees, with implementation scheduled to begin in October 2025.
The government later moved to incorporate NERD authentication into the NYSC mobilisation process. In March 2026, Alausa announced that prospective corps members would be required to present NERD certificates authenticating their academic qualifications before registering for the compulsory national service.
The NYSC subsequently announced in June 2026 that it would strictly enforce the requirement to prevent unqualified and fraudulent graduates from gaining entry into the national service scheme.
Concerns over fraudulent academic credentials have also featured in recent investigations. In November 2025, JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed that about 15,000 candidates had allegedly forged admission letters in an attempt to qualify for NYSC mobilisation.
Similarly, a Federal Government investigation into the academic credentials of former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, led to a panel finding in March 2026 that his University of Nigeria, Nsukka, degree certificate was forged. The case also raised questions surrounding an NYSC certificate.
Meanwhile, Nafiu commended the ministry’s digital reforms and pledged the NYSC’s continued support for the transformation of Nigeria’s education sector.
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