FG Scrutinizes Credentials Of Employees

By Ayodele Oni

The Federal Government has mandated its agencies, ministries and department to embark on verification of certificates of employees with a view to detect those with forged credentials.

The directive which, also, affect military and paramilitary groups, is meant to initiate a mandatory verification process for the  academic credentials of every staff,  starting from October 6.

This followed growing apprehensions expressed by academics, regarding the diminishing educational standards and the proliferation of fraudulent certificates nationwide.

In view of this, the government has mandated the country-wide enactment of the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).

According to a circular issued on August 8, 2025 (Reference: 58524/111C/579) and endorsed by George Akume, Secretary to Government of the Federation, (SGF), all ministries, departments, agencies, and higher education institutions—across civilian, military, public, and private sectors—are required to implement the National Credential Verification Service (NCVS) for verify staff qualifications.

The circular stated that under the updated system, appointments will only be confirmed once an instant NCVS clearance verifies the authenticity of academic documents.

“Every clearance will produce a National Credential Number (NCN) along with unique security codes, which are associated with the verified documents for record management.

“This represents a shift away from the traditional approach of relying on the issuing institutions, as it introduces a centralized quality assurance system that operates independently from individual schools or potentially biased officials.”

The newly formed NERD, suggested by the National Universities Commission (NUC), will be responsible for overseeing enforcement.

In accordance with the circular, all ministries, departments, agencies, and higher education institutions across Nigeria, whether civilian, military, private, or public are instructed to submit their annual NERD compliance reports by March 30th each year.

According to a Bureau of Public Service Reforms report from 2022, Nigeria employs approximately 720,000 federal civil servants.

The National Civil Verification Scheme (NCVS), a pivotal element of the National Education and Research Development (NERD) programme, was initially introduced in March 2025 by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, after receiving approval from the Federal Executive Council.

During the launch, Dr. Alausa portrayed the NCVS as a comprehensive nationwide initiative designed to ensure quality assurance.

 Its purpose is to combat academic fraud, which poses a significant threat to the education sector. This initiative addresses issues such as counterfeit degrees, fraudulent qualifications, fake certificates, and honors obtained from unaccredited institutions and diploma mills.