The Federal Government has commenced moves to deepen digital integration between the education sector and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as part of efforts to tackle certificate racketeering, strengthen academic qualification verification and ensure genuine graduates are not denied opportunities.
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 of the Corps on a visit to the ministry in Abuja.
Alausa said the initiative was part of the digital reforms being implemented under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to close loopholes in the management and verification of educational records.
According to him, the reforms would make it easier for institutions and government agencies to authenticate academic qualifications while reducing administrative challenges that could prevent qualified graduates from accessing national service and employment opportunities.
“The digital transformation of Nigeria’s education system under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is strengthening the integrity of academic qualifications, tackling certificate racketeering and ensuring that genuine students and graduates are not disadvantaged,” he said.
The minister explained that the Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank (NERD) was collecting and verifying university certificates, tracking learners across the education system and supporting tertiary institutions through help-desk officers.
He added that the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure would connect records across different stages of a learner’s educational journey, creating a more integrated system for managing educational information.
Alausa also disclosed that the ministry had digitised its Education Support Services end-to-end, including certificate verification and processes involving foreign applicants.
He said discussions were ongoing with the NYSC on an Application Programming Interface (API) that would allow faster verification and seamless exchange of relevant data between the two institutions.
The minister identified discrepancies in names, issues affecting graduates of part-time National Diploma programmes and the admission of National Certificate in Education holders into Higher National Diploma programmes among the challenges requiring urgent attention.
He said the ministry would collaborate with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and other relevant stakeholders to develop lasting solutions.
Alausa said one of the proposed measures was the introduction of a national Learner Identification Number and a consistent framework for recording and sequencing names across government education and identity databases.
He explained that establishing accurate identity records from the beginning of a learner’s educational journey would reduce discrepancies that could later affect graduates during certificate verification, national service mobilisation and employment.
The minister also said the government had strengthened measures against examination malpractice, including the leakage of examination questions, stressing that the progress recorded must be sustained and extended to tertiary institutions.
The latest collaboration comes amid intensified efforts by the Federal Government to tighten the authentication of academic credentials used for employment and NYSC mobilisation.
In September 2025, the government directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies to begin using the National Credential Verification Service to authenticate academic certificates of existing staff and new hires, with the policy scheduled to commence in October 2025.
The government subsequently moved to make NERD authentication part of the NYSC mobilisation process. In March 2026, Alausa said prospective corps members would be required to present NERD certificates authenticating their academic qualifications before registering for the compulsory national service.
The NYSC announced in June 2026 that it would strictly enforce the requirement as part of measures to prevent unqualified or fraudulent graduates from entering the national service scheme.The issue of fraudulent academic credentials has also featured in recent investigations and prosecutions.
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, an investigation into the academic credentials of former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, resulted in a panel finding in March 2026 that his University of Nigeria, Nsukka, degree certificate was forged.
The case also involved questions surrounding an NYSC certificate.On his part, Nafiu commended the ministry’s digital reforms and pledged the continued support of the NYSC for the transformation of Nigeria’s education sector.
He said the NYSC had pursued digitalisation since 2014 and developed systems designed to provide reliable information for Corps members and their deployment.
Nafiu disclosed that the Corps had complied with the Federal Executive Council’s directive on collaboration with the Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank and was ready to deepen its partnership with the ministry.
According to him, the use of technology had significantly strengthened the integrity of NYSC operations, particularly through the introduction of QR codes, which he said had “virtually eliminated document cloning” within the Corps.
