By Ademola Adekusibe
September 29, 2025
The Federal Government has announced that with effect from October 6, 2025, all graduates seeking mobilisation into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) must upload their academic thesis or final year project to the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) as part of the compulsory mobilisation requirements.
The directive was contained in a circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, and distributed to all vice chancellors, rectors, provosts and registrars of higher institutions across the country.
According to the circular, the submission of projects and theses to NERD has now been made a prerequisite for both mobilisation and exemption from NYSC. It stressed that failure to comply will disqualify graduates from being cleared for national service or granted exemption certificates.
The SGF explained that the new policy was introduced to strengthen quality assurance in Nigerian tertiary institutions, curb academic malpractice, and preserve the intellectual property of graduates. He added that the centralised database would serve as a national archive for research output and provide a verifiable record of academic work undertaken in Nigerian universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
Under the directive, every graduate is required to upload their work to the NERD platform, including their full name, project title, supervisor, head of department, sponsoring institution, and department. Tertiary institutions have also been mandated to enforce compliance as part of graduation clearance.
“The Federal Government has resolved that no graduate shall be mobilised for national service or granted exemption without evidence of submission to NERD. Institutions are hereby directed to ensure that all graduates complete this requirement before their names are forwarded for mobilisation,” the circular read in part.
The government emphasised that the policy will also help to tackle certificate fraud, improve research visibility, and enhance Nigeria’s global academic standing. It added that the measure will ensure that publicly funded education contributes to a national pool of knowledge accessible for innovation and development.
The new requirement, however, does not affect corps members who have already been mobilised before the commencement date.
The NYSC management is expected to work closely with the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and other regulatory agencies to enforce compliance.
