The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has said the Federal Government’s digital transformation of Nigeria’s education system is strengthening the integrity of academic qualifications, tackling certificate racketeering and ensuring that genuine graduates are not disadvantaged.
Alausa stated this when the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Brig. Gen. Olakunle Nafiu, led a delegation of the Corps to the Ministry.
He said the reforms would close gaps in the management and verification of education records and make it easier to authenticate qualifications across the system.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Mr. Ikharo Attah, Alausa said stronger collaboration between the Ministry and NYSC would improve verification, reduce fraud and facilitate the seamless exchange of credible learner and graduate data.
The Minister explained that the Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank, NERD, was collecting and verifying university certificates, tracking learners and supporting tertiary institutions, while the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure, NEDI, would connect records across different stages of a learner’s educational journey.
He said the Ministry had also digitised its Education Support Services end-to-end, including certificate verification and processes involving foreign applicants.
He added that discussions were ongoing with NYSC on an application programming interface, API, to enable faster and seamless verification and data exchange.
Alausa said the reforms would help address administrative and data challenges that have prevented some qualified graduates from participating fully in national service and the labour market.
He identified discrepancies in names, challenges affecting graduates of part-time National Diploma programmes, and the admission of National Certificate in Education, NCE, holders into Higher National Diploma, HND, programmes among the issues requiring resolution.
He said the Ministry would work with the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, and other stakeholders to establish a national Learner Identification Number and a uniform framework for recording names across education and identity databases.
According to him, the system would ensure accurate identity records from the beginning of a learner’s educational journey and minimise discrepancies that could later affect graduates.
Alausa also said the government had strengthened measures against examination malpractice, including examination question leakages, and stressed the need to extend the gains to tertiary institutions.
He noted that the Ministry would sustain collaboration with NYSC and other stakeholders to build an education system in which every Nigerian child has access to quality education and every genuine graduate can progress on merit.
The Minister added that the reforms were part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to build a more transparent, efficient and productive Nigeria through technology, credible data and stronger institutions.
On his part, Nafiu commended the Minister’s reforms and pledged NYSC’s continued support for the digital transformation of the education sector.
He said NYSC had pursued digitalisation since 2014 and had developed systems providing reliable information on Corps Members and their deployment.
He added that the Corps had complied with the Federal Executive Council’s directive on collaboration with NERD and was ready to deepen its partnership with the Ministry.
Nafiu said the introduction of QR codes had virtually eliminated document cloning within NYSC, adding that the Corps would continue to strengthen its verification systems against emerging fraudulent practices.
On the challenges affecting some graduates, the NYSC DG said discussions with the new JAMB Registrar had produced an understanding to create a window for graduates affected by name discrepancies to regularise their records in collaboration with NIMC.
He called for a broader meeting involving JAMB, NIMC, NYSC and the Ministry to develop lasting solutions to the challenges.
