The Federal Government has intensified efforts to safeguard the credibility of Nigeria’s education system with the rollout of the Nigeria Education Repository and Data Bank (NERD), a national digital platform designed to secure, digitise and authenticate academic records across tertiary institutions.
Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, announced the initiative during a National Capacity Building Programme for institutional representatives, describing the platform as a critical national infrastructure for protecting academic credentials and strengthening education data governance.
According to the minister, the NERD platform supports the Federal Government’s ongoing reform agenda under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by ensuring reliable digital preservation and verification of academic records.
Dr. Alausa disclosed that within four months of implementation, the system has preserved nearly 100,000 digital student submissions, integrated more than 250 tertiary institutions, and enrolled over 133,000 students and 6,800 lecturers.
He noted that the initiative is also aimed at addressing certificate fraud, following recent investigations that uncovered cases involving fraudulent foreign credentials obtained from unaccredited institutions.
The Ministry of Education further announced that participation in the NERD system will become a prerequisite for participation in, or exemption from, the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
The Federal Government reaffirmed its commitment to building a transparent, digitally verifiable and globally respected education system through the deployment of the platform.
