The Federal Government has announced that beginning October 6, 2025, all academic and professional credentials in Nigeria must undergo mandatory verification under the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
The directive, contained in a service-wide circular signed by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, follows growing concerns about certificate racketeering, fake degrees, and academic fraud across the country.
From the deadline, all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), as well as public and private tertiary institutions, will be required to implement structured verification of the credentials of both existing and prospective staff. The checks will be carried out through the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS), a flagship component of the NERD programme.
Under the new policy, no recruitment or confirmation of employment will be completed without an official NCVS clearance. Each verified credential will be issued a National Credential Number (NCN), along with unique document security codes for tracking and record-keeping.
Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who launched the NCVS in March after securing Federal Executive Council approval, described the reform as a “decisive systemic quality assurance check to curb fake degrees, qualification fraud, phony certificates, and bogus honours from diploma mills.”
NERD’s Executive Director of Communication and Cybersecurity, Ms. Haula Galadima, said the platform is now fully operational and urged institutions, MDAs, and the private sector to register their designated NERD officers.
She explained that the programme will also manage the National Student Number (NSN), the National Credential Number (NCN), and the National Document Number (NDN) to ensure all awards are identifiable, traceable, verifiable, and validatable.
“Fake degrees thrive because the process of exposing them is slow and cumbersome,” Galadima noted. “With NERD, Nigeria now has a one-stop verification system that links decentralised institutional records while protecting education integrity and national security.”
The NERD Governing Council, chaired by the Minister of Education and comprising key higher education stakeholders, will oversee compliance. Enforcement will also become a prerequisite for access to government services and inter-agency cooperation nationwide.
