The federal government has moved to enhance the integrity of academic records in Nigeria through a national digital infrastructure designed to secure, standardise, and authenticate students’ data across post-secondary and tertiary institutions nationwide.
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Alausa, disclosed this on Thursday during his keynote address at a national capacity-building programme for school representatives organised to support the implementation of the Nigeria Education Repository and Data Bank.
Alausa noted that the digitisation of academic records and the saving of data is an avenue to curb academic fraud and serve as a secure national system for storing and verifying academic records from higher institutions across the country.
He noted that the initiative also aligns with the education reform efforts of the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly in strengthening transparency and reliability in education data management.
“Within four months of implementation, the system has preserved nearly 100,000 digital student submissions, integrated over 250 tertiary institutions, and enrolled more than 133,000 students and 6,800 lecturers on the platform,” the minister said.
He added that the platform would also help tackle certificate fraud, revealing that recent investigations uncovered cases of fake foreign credentials obtained from institutions that are not accredited.
The ministry further disclosed that participation in the NERD system will soon become a requirement for graduates seeking participation or exemption from the National Youth Service Corps programme.
The government said the initiative is part of broader efforts to build a more transparent and reliable education system that can be verified digitally and recognised globally.
The Chief Executive Officer of NERD, Tunji Ariyomo, said preserving the country’s knowledge and historical records was critical, warning that poor documentation had created gaps in Nigeria’s knowledge bank and growth.
He explained that the platform documents academic projects, theses, and dissertations along with supervisors, co-supervisors, and departmental heads, strengthening accountability and improving the quality of academic supervision.
Ariyomi expressed worry that many valuable academic records and research outputs in Nigeria had historically been lost due to weak documentation and preservation systems.
“What does that say about us in Nigeria and about Africa? Our knowledge is not able to climb on the shoulders of previous knowledge. So there is a gap.
“Nations that have preserved knowledge over a long period of time, and where that knowledge can be validated, are the ones leading the world,” he said.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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