The Federal Government has directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), military and paramilitary formations, and educational institutions to begin mandatory verification of academic certificates of staff and prospective employees from October 6, 2025.

The directive, issued via a circular dated August 8, 2025 (Ref: 58524/111C/579) and signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume (CON), follows mounting concerns about the erosion of educational integrity and proliferation of fake certificates.

It mandates the adoption of the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), a centralised digital platform designed to store, manage, preserve, and verify academic records.

Under the new framework, all qualifications must be authenticated through the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS), the operational arm of NERD. No appointment will be confirmed without an NCVS clearance, which generates a National Credential Number (NCN) and unique security codes linked to verified documents.

The reform marks a departure from the old system of relying on issuing institutions, replacing it with a nationwide quality assurance mechanism independent of schools or susceptible officials.

Enforcement will be anchored on Section 10(1) of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, 1985, with NERD providing oversight. All MDAs and higher institutions civilian, military, public, or private are required to submit annual compliance reports by March 30 each year.

Analysts warn the policy could trigger widespread job losses, particularly in public service, schools, and tertiary institutions. Officials, however, maintain it is crucial to restore the credibility of Nigeria’s education system and protect future generations.

According to a 2022 Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) report, Nigeria has about 720,000 federal civil servants who will be affected by the directive.

The NCVS was first unveiled in March 2025 by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, after Federal Executive Council approval. At its launch, he described it as “a systemic quality assurance check nationwide to curtail academic fraud caused by fake degrees, fraudulent qualifications, phoney certificates, and unearned honours from unaccredited institutions.”

NERD officials have confirmed the infrastructure is fully operational. Its Executive Director for Communication and Cybersecurity, Ms. Haula Galadima, urged all institutions, MDAs, and private organisations to onboard their NERD Focal Persons, Records Officers, and Digitisation Officers via the official portal (nerd.gov.ng/onboarding).

She explained that NERD’s mandate covers the issuance of the National Student Number (NSN), the NCN, and the National Document Number (NDN) to ensure that every certificate is “identifiable, traceable, verifiable, and validatable.”

Nigeria has grappled with certificate forgery for decades, with high-profile scandals regularly shaking politics, civil service, and education.

• In 1999, then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Salisu Buhari resigned after being exposed for falsifying his age and claiming a degree from the University of Toronto.
• In 2020, the National Examinations Council (NECO) dismissed 89 staff members for presenting fake certificates.
• In 2023, the ICPC arraigned Anthony Damisa, an NSCDC officer, for allegedly using forged certificates, while an FRSC official and two accomplices were charged with forging a University of Abuja statement of result.
• In 2024, JAMB revealed 3,000 fake graduates with forged degrees, while the Federal Government invalidated over 22,700 certificates obtained from unaccredited universities in Benin Republic and Togo between 2019 and 2023.
• In 2025, the ICPC secured the conviction of Iyonu Eseme, a staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), who was found guilty of using a forged Trade Test Certificate.

The NUC has also published a list of 58 illegal universities and is investigating nine more suspected of running unaccredited degree programmes.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the SGF, Mr. Yomi Odunuga, said the circular was “self-explanatory,” stressing that conjectures about its timing were unnecessary.

Deputy Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Comrade Isaac Ojemhenke, told reporters he would need official clearance before commenting on the matter.

Officials insist the NERD programme, governed by a council of education regulators and chaired by the Minister of Education, will serve as a federation-wide quality assurance tool to protect national prestige, safeguard education integrity, and enhance global competitiveness.