By Abiola Olawale
Mixed reactions have begun to trail the decision of the Federal Government to make thesis and project submission mandatory for all prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
This comes as the policy, effective from October 6, 2025, ties NYSC mobilisation and exemptions directly to compliance with the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
Under the NERD framework, graduates from Nigerian universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, or foreign institutions must deposit their final-year projects, theses, and other scholarly outputs into a national digital repository.
The new directive was contained in a circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, who conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s approval on Saturday.
According to the circular, the new policy is aimed at preserving intellectual assets and elevating research quality nationwide.
The circular stated that the “NYSC mobilisation criteria [have been adjusted] in accordance with the President’s regulation requiring proof of NERD Policy compliance for all prospective corps members, regardless of where they were educated.”
Explaining the intent of the reform, NERD spokesperson, Haula Galadima, said,” Apart from the mandate to verify for authenticity as a national flagship, the NERD digitisation programme has a clear objective, to raise the bar in the quality of academic content, output and presentation nationwide.”
She added that the database will capture every detail of academic work deposited.
“Each item shall feature the full name of the student, that of his supervisor, co-supervisor if any, and that of the Head of Department, as well as the sponsoring institution and department,” Galadima explained.
On why the move matters for university supervision, she stressed:
“If our eminent scholars are aware that their names will appear next to those of the students they supervise on a globally available digital platform, there is the likelihood that each lecturer would up his or her standard.
“Very few lecturers would want their names associated with poorly produced academic works.”
Meanwhile, Nigerians have begun to react to the new policy. Below are some of the reactions;
“This doesn’t solve the problem they’re trying to solve. If there can be a counterfeit certificate, there can also be a counterfeit thesis.”(@zangies_)
“This policy is misguided. Making thesis submission mandatory for NYSC mobilization is another layer of bureaucracy that will frustrate graduates instead of supporting them. Many schools barely guide students properly through research.”(@bariagara_)
“If properly implemented, this could help build a national academic database and fight certificate fraud. But knowing how things work here, the execution might just stress students more than it helps the system.”(AJ_Daniel6)
“That shouldn’t be a problem.
I’m done with service but I would have easily uploaded my final year thesis. It was an interesting project. Uploading the thesis and the prototype is not the problem.
“Will they just leave it there as just another piece of data.
“Some of those theses deserve to be developed and improved to a better working model if we are a serious nation.
“It’s not just another requirement; there should be more to be done, especially with it, than just submitting it for submission’s sake.” (@moeclark)
