The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has announced that prospective corps members must obtain a compliance certificate from the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) before they can be mobilised for the mandatory national service.
The directive was disclosed by the Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, during the 2026 Batch ‘B’ Pre-Mobilisation Workshop held in Abuja. According to him, the new requirement is aimed at strengthening the integrity of the mobilisation process and eliminating the use of fake academic certificates.
Nafiu said only graduates whose academic records have been verified through the NERD platform and who possess the required compliance certificate will be eligible for mobilisation into the NYSC scheme.
The workshop, themed “Strengthening Institutional Accountability and Compliance in the NYSC Mobilization Process for Effective Service Delivery,” brought together stakeholders from tertiary institutions and relevant government agencies to address challenges affecting the mobilisation process.
The NYSC said the policy forms part of broader efforts to enhance transparency, improve institutional accountability, and safeguard the credibility of academic qualifications presented for national service.
