FG Orders Mandatory Certificate Verification Across MDAs, Others from Oct 6
The federal government has moved against certificate forgers with a directive to all Ministries, Departments, Agencies, military and paramilitary formations to enforce mandatory verification of all academic credentials of staff members beginning October 6, 2025.
The directive follows mounting concerns from academics about the erosion of educational integrity and spread of fake certificates across the country. In response, the government ordered the nationwide implementation of the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
The policy requires every ministry, department, agency, and institution—whether public, private, civilian, or military—to subject staff and prospective employees’ qualifications to strict verification checks.
At the heart of the reform is the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), a centralised digital platform created to store, manage, preserve, and verify educational records, publications, and credentials from all tiers of the system.
Designed as a one-stop hub for academic data, NERD allows instant authentication of certificates while also serving as a permanent archive for historical academic outputs.
Analysts say the policy could lead to widespread job losses, especially in the public service, private schools, and tertiary institutions. Officials, however, argue that the reform is critical to restoring credibility to Nigeria’s education sector and safeguarding future generations.
The circular
According to a circular dated August 8, 2025 (Ref: 58524/111C/579), signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume (CON), every ministry, department, agency, and tertiary institution—civilian, military, public, or private—must now adopt the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS) for authenticating the qualifications of staff and prospective employees.
Under the new system, no appointment will be confirmed without an instant NCVS clearance certifying the authenticity of academic documents. Each clearance will generate a National Credential Number (NCN) and unique security codes linked to verified documents for record-keeping.
This marks a departure from the old system of depending on issuing institutions, replacing it with a centralised quality assurance framework that functions independently of individual schools or susceptible officials.
The directive draws its legal authority from Section 10(1) of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, 1985, which safeguards academic standards and integrity. Enforcement will be overseen by the newly established NERD, a body recommended by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in May 2023.
According to the circular, all ministries, departments, agencies higher institutions across Nigeria – whether civilian, military, private or public are directed to submit annual NERD compliance reports by 30th March each year.
According to a 2022 Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) reports, Nigeria has around 720,000 federal civil servants.
The NCVS, a cornerstone of the NERD programme, was first unveiled in March 2025 by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, following a Federal Executive Council approval.
At its launch, Dr. Alausa described the NCVS as “a systemic quality assurance check nationwide to curtail academic fraud that threatens the education sector due to fake degrees, fraudulent qualifications, phoney certificates, and unearned honours from unaccredited institutions and diploma mills.”
NERD officials confirm that the infrastructure is now fully operational. In a statement, Ms. Haula Galadima, Executive Director for Communication and Cybersecurity, urged all higher institutions, government bodies, and private organisations to comply by registering their NERD Focal Persons, Records Officers, and Digitisation Officers via the official onboarding portal: nerd.gov.ng/onboarding.
According to her, “NERD is a quality assurance tool. NERD is a federation initiative. NERD is the federation’s standard for higher education digitisation with the objective of protecting national security and prestige, education integrity, and digitally enhancing the economic values of Nigeria’s education for global competitiveness.”
She explained that the programme’s mandate also covers the issuance of the National Student Number (NSN), the National Credential Number (NCN), and the National Document Number (NDN), ensuring that every legitimate award or certificate is “identifiable, traceable, verifiable, and validatable.”
In August 2023, former Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, disclosed that over 22,500 Nigerians had obtained and paraded fake academic certificates from institutions in Benin Republic and Togo between 2019 and 2023.
According to him, about 21,600 certificates were issued by unaccredited universities in Benin, while another 1,105 came from unaccredited institutions in Togo. By August 2024, the federal government moved to invalidate 22,700 certificates issued by unaccredited universities in both countries.
He remarked that individuals with fake certificates had used them to secure jobs in government and private organizations, falsely claiming to have studied abroad, while hardworking graduates were still searching for employment opportunities.
“Even within the countries, Benin and Togo, these universities are not accredited to offer degree programmes. I don’t know how Nigerians chose to go to unaccredited institutions abroad to ‘study’.
“Our investigations also indicated that many of the people never even attended the school physically,” he stated then.
In a chat, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yomi Odunuga said:
“The circular is self- explanatory and I don’t think there should be any reason for conjectures as regards if it was prompted by a so-called case of fake certificates.
“I am not in a position to hazard a guess as to what would follow. As you can see, the circular is detailed and addressed to all the relevant agencies”.
Nigeria has long battled the scourge of forged academic credentials. Over the years, several high-profile figures—from lawmakers to ministers and academics—have been implicated in certificate scandals.
One of the earliest and most infamous cases dates back to 1999, when Salisu Buhari, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, was exposed for falsifying his age and claiming a degree from the University of Toronto. The scandal forced his resignation, setting an early precedent in the Fourth Republic.
In 2023, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) arraigned Anthony Damisa, an officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State, for allegedly presenting forged academic certificates. He was accused of using a fake BSc in Public Administration from Enugu State University of Science and Technology, as well as a forged National Diploma in Agriculture.
That same year, an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), alongside two accomplices, was dragged to court for allegedly forging a University of Abuja statement of result and a confirmation letter to facilitate promotions.
The education sector has also been rocked by scandals. In 2020, the National Examinations Council (NECO) dismissed 89 employees for presenting fake certificates after an internal verification exercise.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) also raised alarm in July 2024, that it uncovered 3,000 fake graduates parading forged degrees from unaccredited institutions. Around the same time, the federal government constituted a 12-member investigative panel to probe degree mills both at home and abroad.
Most recently, in 2025, the ICPC secured a conviction against Iyonu Eseme, a staff member of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), who was found guilty of presenting a forged Trade Test Certificate during his employment application.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) had also published a list of 58 fake universities operating illegally in Nigeria, while investigations were launched into nine other institutions suspected of running unauthorised degree programmes.
When contacted to comment on the issue last night, Deputy Secretary-General of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) Comrade Isaac Ojemhenke, told one of our correspondents that he would have to seek official permission before commenting.
“I cannot comment on the matter now because I have to take permission before making any comment. You know I’m just a Deputy Secretary-General of the association,” he said. He was unable to do so as at press time.