FG, NYSC Deepen Digital Integration to End Certificate Racketeering

The Federal Government is set to deepen the digital integration of education records with the National Youth Service Corps to tackle certificate racketeering and strengthen the verification of academic qualifications.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Tuesday during a meeting with the NYSC Director-General, Brig Gen Olakunle Nafiu, who led a delegation to the ministry in Abuja.

Alausa said the reforms under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda were designed to close loopholes in the management and verification of educational records and make it easier to authenticate qualifications.

He said the Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank was collecting and verifying university certificates, tracking learners across the education system and supporting tertiary institutions through help-desk officers.

The minister added that the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure would link records across different stages of a learner’s educational journey, while the ministry had digitised its Education Support Services, including certificate verification and processes involving foreign applicants.

Alausa said discussions were ongoing with the NYSC on an application programming interface that would enable faster verification and seamless exchange of relevant data between both institutions.

He said the reforms would also address administrative and data-related challenges that had prevented some qualified graduates from fully participating in national service and the labour market.

Among the issues identified were discrepancies in names, challenges affecting graduates of part-time National Diploma programmes and the admission of National Certificate in Education holders into Higher National Diploma programmes.

The minister said the government would work with the National Board for Technical Education, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, National Identity Management Commission and other stakeholders to develop lasting solutions.

He disclosed that proposed measures included introducing a national Learner Identification Number and a consistent framework for recording names across government education and identity databases.

Nafiu commended the ministry’s digital reforms and pledged NYSC’s continued support, noting that the Corps had pursued digitalisation since 2014.

He said the NYSC had complied with the Federal Executive Council’s directive on collaboration with the Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank and was ready to deepen its partnership with the ministry.

Nafiu added that technology had strengthened the integrity of NYSC operations, noting that the introduction of QR codes had virtually eliminated document cloning within the Corps.