NERD’s Academic Database Hits 400,000, 115,000 Credentials Verified

907 institutions enrolled in boost for FG’s education digitisation drive At 228,347, female students exceed males’ 181,536 submissions Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) has crossed the 400,000 mark in digitised academic submissions, while its National Credential Verification Service (NCVS) has processed more than 115,000 academic credentials. The development has also seen 907 tertiary institutions enrolled on the platform, with 629 currently active, indicating growing adoption of the repository as the government seeks to create a central digital ecosystem for academic research, credentials and institutional knowledge. Specifically, the latest figures obtained from the repository showed that more than 410,000 theses, dissertations, student projects and other academic works had been submitted by September 2026, with undergraduate research accounting for the overwhelming majority of the materials uploaded. The repository is designed to preserve, index and improve access to academic works produced by Nigerian institutions, and is increasingly being positioned beyond a conventional digital archive, particularly as the credential verification component begins to provide an additional layer of authentication for academic qualifications. According to available information, participating institutions cut across the university, polytechnic, monotechnic and college of education systems, reflecting the broad scope of the federal government’s digitisation initiative. Of the 907 institutions enrolled, 259 are universities, 163 polytechnics, 179 monotechnics, 178 colleges of education, while 130 fall under other categories. The spread, according to the data, has also translated into increasing academic participation, with 2,020 faculties and 9,626 departments enrolled on the platform. More than 1,600 faculties and 5,300 departments already have academic works visible on the repository. Universities such as the University of Benin, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Ekiti State University, the University of Calabar and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, are among institutions with significant volumes of submissions. Several polytechnics, including Kwara State Polytechnic, Kaduna Polytechnic, Auchi Polytechnic, Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa and Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, have also recorded notable participation, suggesting that the repository is gradually extending beyond the university system. The data further showed that student research remains the principal driver of the platform’s growth. As of September 4, undergraduate submissions stood at 409,456, compared with 1,563 postgraduate submissions. According to the data, the gender distribution of submissions showed 228,347 works attributed to female students, compared with 181,536 from male students, while 77 submissions were uncategorised. The age profile indicated that students between 25 and 29 years constituted the largest group of contributors, followed by those between 20 and 24 years. Beyond the volume of material being digitised, the repository is also beginning to provide a picture of the areas of research attracting the attention of Nigerian students. The submissions span the sciences, social sciences, humanities, law, education and technology, with increasing interest in innovation and technology-related subjects reflected across several disciplines. This, in particular, could provide government and policymakers with a potentially valuable pool of information on the nature of research being undertaken in Nigerian tertiary institutions and the areas where young researchers are seeking solutions to economic and social challenges. The credential verification arm of the initiative is expected to strengthen this function by providing a structured mechanism for authenticating academic qualifications and assigning National Credential Numbers to verified credentials. With more than 115,000 credentials already verified, the service haa become increasingly important in a system where employers, government agencies, foreign institutions and other organisations routinely need to establish the authenticity of Nigerian academic qualifications. The development comes against the backdrop of the federal government’s wider push to modernise the education sector through digital systems and improve the connection between education, research, skills development and economic productivity. The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has repeatedly emphasised the need to make Nigeria’s education system more responsive to the country’s development requirements, including by improving the use of technology and strengthening research outcomes. One of the initiatives associated with the broader research agenda is the National Laureate Programme, which seeks to identify and recognise research with practical applications, while encouraging the transition of promising academic discoveries into commercially viable products and services.