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*As Education Minister Says Tinubu’s Decisions In The Best Interest Of Nigerians
Determined to encourage academic excellence and exploit, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Education has perfected plans to reward outstanding Undergraduate, Masters, and Doctoral Theses with prizes ranging from ₦5 million to ₦20 million.
The Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa disclose this on Thursday while delivering keynote address at the 2026 National Capacity Building Programme On The Implementation And Enforcement Of The Nigeria Education Repository And Databank (NERD) Policy in Abuja.
According to him, the NERD Annual National Laureate Prize and Awards Programme will begin in November 2026 to reward the outstanding theses.
He said "To further promote academic excellence, I have approved the establishment of the NERD Annual National Laureate Prize and Awards Programme, which will reward outstanding Undergraduate, Master’s, and Doctoral theses with prizes ranging from ₦5 million to ₦20 million. The maiden edition will hold in November 2026."
Dr. Alausa said that NERD compliance is now a prerequisite for participation in, or exemption from, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
He added that enforcement also extends far beyond the NYSC programme.
"Agencies such as TETFund, the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), as well as all accredited tertiary institutions, are mandated to ensure compliance as a condition for accessing their services."
NERD, he said, is a reform instrument, anchored on transparency, traceability, and accountability.
According to him, it is not merely a technological platform; but a strategic national infrastructure designed to secure, standardise, digitise, and authenticate academic records across post-secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
NERD, the Minister noted, represents the Federal Government’s firm commitment to education data ownership, zero tolerance for academic fraud, and the preservation of national academic history.
With the approval of the Federal Executive Council, he said NERD was established as the digitisation vehicle of Nigeria’s education sector, with a mandate that includes the administration of National Credential Numbers (NCN), the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS), the National Students Clearing House, a federated repository of academic texts and abstracts, and a National Academic Publication and Indexing Database.
"The National Credential Verification Service (NCVS) component will maintain a national digital footprint of every academic award obtained in accredited Nigerian institutions. We will aggressively enforce compliance to end credential falsification and eliminate disputes over academic records." he stated
Stressing that NERD Focal Officers, Record Officers, and Digitisation Officers are custodians of institutional credibility, he said, the diligence with which they verify and upload records determines the trust employers, foreign institutions, and regulatory bodies place in Nigerian qualifications.
He noted that compliance with national standards is not optional, but statutory.
To protect institutional autonomy, the Minister said the Federal Government approved that 40% of profit-sharing from credential verification services reverts to the institution of origin.
He added "Although NERD is federally owned, it is collectively beneficial and participatory in structure."
Stating that the theme of the programme “Strengthening Institutional Compliance and Academic Records Integrity” goes to the very heart of Nigeria’s education reform agenda, Dr Alausa commended the integration of practical demonstrations in the training, dashboard walkthroughs, record uploads, verification management, and compliance workflows.
"Reform must not remain theoretical; it must be operational." the Minister said
The Minister revealed that the Federal Government has directed all relevant regulatory bodies to align with and enforce the NERD policy, stressing that institutions must adhere strictly to compliance timelines, establish robust internal verification systems, designate competent personnel, and prioritise continuous digital capacity development.
In line with local content regulations, he said, only nationally developed applications should be procured for ICT-related services within the institutions.
"NERD has developed robust repository software and an indigenous anti-plagiarism system. It would contradict national interest to ignore what we fully own in favour of foreign alternatives.
"The future of Nigerian education is data-driven, transparent, and digitally verifiable. The question is not whether this transformation will occur, it is whether we will lead it with discipline and rigour.
"Let history record that this generation of education administrators chose integrity over convenience, structure over disorder, and accountability over ambiguity. Through NERD, future generations will inherit immutable and inviolable records of this era." he stated
Reeling out statistics, the Minister said within just four months of enforcement, NERD has curated and preserved close to 100,000 digital student submissions that might otherwise have been lost to obscurity.
He also said over 350 universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education have been onboarded for real-time credential verification.
Continuing, the Minister said "More than 133,000 students and over 6,800 lecturers are now enrolled on the platform, supported by over 665 focal persons nationwide.
"In addition, through collaboration with Nigerian digital entrepreneurs, NERD has established 1,060 Digital Service Centres across the country, creating over 3,000 direct jobs within four months. This is reform with measurable impact." he stated
He disclosed that civil servants who patronized fake and illegal certificates from schools in neighboring countries have been weeded out of the Civil Service.
While commending President Bola Tinubu, Dr Alausa said that, all the decisions taken by the President since he came on board is for the benefit of the Nigerian children.
Stressing that the President came into office at the point where the country was approaching bankruptcy, he said Nigerians will reap the benefit of all the decisions being taken.
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of NERD, Olatunji Ariyomo, noted that the Minister of Education and the administrative has brought rapid changes and progress on what has dragged for so long.
With NERD in place, he said, forgery of certifications is now a thing of the past.
The representative of the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) expressed the readiness and willingness of the agency to support the project.