Alausa: Digital learner records will curb certificate racketeering, protect graduates
Tunji Alausa, minister of education, says the federal government is introducing digital reforms across Nigeria’s education system to strengthen the integrity of academic qualifications and tackle certificate racketeering.
Speaking on Tuesday Olakunle Nafiu, director-general of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), led a delegation to the ministry, Alausa said the reforms would include integrated learner records and a national identification system designed to authenticate qualifications and ensure genuine students and graduates are not disadvantaged.
The minister said the reforms were aimed at closing gaps in the management and verification of educational records and making it easier to identify learners and authenticate qualifications across the education system.
He commended the NYSC leadership for embracing technology and supporting efforts to improve the credibility of education records.
Alausa said closer integration between the ministry and NYSC would improve verification, reduce opportunities for fraud and facilitate the seamless exchange of credible learner and graduate data.
He said the Nigerian Education Repository Data Bank (NERD) was collecting and verifying university certificates, tracking learners across the education system and providing support to tertiary institutions through help-desk officers.
The minister added that the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI) would link records across different stages of a learner’s educational journey.
He also said the ministry had digitised its Education Support Services end-to-end, including certificate verification and processes involving foreign applicants.
According to Alausa, discussions were ongoing with NYSC on an application programming interface (API) to enable faster verification and exchange of relevant data.
He said the reforms would also address administrative and data-related challenges that have prevented some qualified graduates from participating fully in national service and the labour market.
Among the issues, 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.
Alausa 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 develop lasting solutions.
He said the government was considering a national Learner Identification Number and a consistent framework for recording and sequencing names across government education and identity databases.
According to the minister, the system would help establish accurate and consistent identity records from the beginning of a learner’s educational journey.
Alausa also said the government had strengthened measures against examination malpractice, including the leakage of examination questions, and stressed the need to sustain and extend such measures to tertiary institutions.
Speaking at the meeting, Nafiu commended the minister’s reforms and pledged NYSC’s continued support for the digital transformation of the education sector.
The NYSC director-general said the corps had pursued digitalisation since 2014 and developed systems that provide reliable information on corps members and their deployment.
He said NYSC 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 to guard against emerging fraudulent practices.
He also said efforts were ongoing to resolve challenges affecting graduates of part-time National Diploma programmes, HND mobilisation and the admission of NCE holders into HND programmes.
According to him, discussions with the new JAMB registrar had produced an understanding to create a window for graduates affected by discrepancies in names to regularise their records in collaboration with NIMC.
Nafiu called for a broader meeting involving JAMB, NIMC, NYSC and the education ministry to develop a lasting solution to the challenges.
He said a consistent national framework for recording and sequencing names across government education and identity databases, supported by a unique Learner Identification Number, would prevent similar difficulties in the future.
The NYSC DG assured the minister that the corps would continue working with the ministry and other relevant agencies to strengthen verification and ensure qualified graduates were not unfairly excluded from national service.
Alausa said the ministry would sustain its collaboration with NYSC and other stakeholders as part of efforts to advance the digital transformation of Nigeria’s education system.
He said the objective was to build an education system in which every Nigerian child had access to quality education and every genuine graduate could progress on the basis of merit and hard work.
The minister said the reforms were also in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the administration’s commitment to using technology, credible data and stronger institutional collaboration to tackle corruption and systemic weaknesses in the education sector.
