Federal Government, NYSC Forge Digital Link Against Certificate Racketeering

To combat widespread certificate racketeering, enhance qualification verification, and ensure legitimate graduates aren't unfairly denied opportunities, the Federal Government plans to significantly integrate digital education records with the National Youth Service Corps.

Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, revealed this initiative on Tuesday during discussions in Abuja with Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, the Director-General of the NYSC, who headed a Corps delegation to the ministry. Minister Alausa emphasized that these digital reforms, a key component of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, aim to eliminate gaps in educational record management and verification, thereby simplifying the authentication process for qualifications throughout the entire education system.

Alausa stated, “The digital transformation of Nigeria’s education system under President Bola 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 further detailed that the 'Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank' is actively engaged in collecting and verifying university certificates, monitoring students' academic progress across the system, and providing support to tertiary institutions via dedicated help-desk personnel. Additionally, Alausa mentioned that the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure is poised to interconnect records from various phases of a student's academic path.

The minister also revealed that his ministry has fully digitized its Education Support Services, covering everything from certificate verification to procedures for international applicants. He confirmed, “Discussions were ongoing with the NYSC on an application programming interface that would facilitate faster verification and seamless exchange of relevant data between both institutions.”

According to Alausa, these reforms are expected to resolve administrative and data-related obstacles that have previously hindered eligible graduates from fully engaging in national service and the employment sector. He specifically highlighted challenges demanding immediate attention, such as inconsistencies in names, difficulties faced by part-time National Diploma graduates, and the admission pathways for National Certificate in Education holders into Higher National Diploma programs.

Alausa affirmed the ministry’s commitment to collaborating with key bodies like the National Board for Technical Education, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the National Identity Management Commission, and other relevant parties to devise sustainable solutions. The proposed strategies, he noted, encompass the implementation of a national Learner Identification Number and a standardized method for recording and ordering names across all government education and identity databases. This system, the minister stated, would guarantee the establishment of accurate identity records right from the onset of a student’s academic life, thereby minimizing discrepancies that might impact graduates in the future.

Furthermore, he indicated that the government has intensified efforts to combat examination malpractice, including the unauthorized release of exam questions, emphasizing the necessity to maintain and expand these achievements to tertiary institutions.

This development aligns with the Federal Government's ongoing intensified drive to rigorously authenticate academic qualifications presented for employment and National Youth Service Corps mobilization. As part of this push, in September 2025, the government instructed all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to adopt the National Credential Verification Service for authenticating academic certificates of both existing staff and new recruits, with implementation slated for October 2025. Following this, the government later decided to integrate NERD authentication into the NYSC mobilization procedure.

By March 2026, Minister Alausa confirmed that future corps members would need to provide NERD certificates verifying their academic qualifications prior to registering for the mandatory national service. The NYSC, in June 2026, also declared its firm intention to enforce this requirement stringently, aiming to bar unqualified or fraudulent individuals from participating in the national service program.

Concerns regarding fraudulent credentials have recently surfaced in various investigations and legal proceedings. For instance, in November 2025, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, the erstwhile Registrar of JAMB, revealed that approximately 15,000 candidates were suspected of forging admission letters to become eligible for NYSC mobilization. Likewise, a Federal Government inquiry into the academic qualifications of Uche Nnaji, former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, concluded in March 2026 with a panel determining that his University of Nigeria, Nsukka degree certificate was falsified. This particular case also raised issues concerning an NYSC certificate.

Brigadier General Nafiu, for his part, lauded the ministry’s digital transformation efforts, assuring the Corps’ ongoing commitment to the advancement of the education sector. He noted that the NYSC has been actively pursuing digitalization since 2014 and has developed [...truncated]