FG Mandates Thesis Submission for NYSC Mobilisation Starting October 2025

By Isaac Inyang 

From 6 October 2025, no Nigerian graduate will be cleared for mobilisation into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) without first submitting proof of their final-year academic work. The Federal Government announced the decision in a circular issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, making thesis, project, or dissertation submission a compulsory requirement for all graduates seeking mobilisation or exemption.

The new directive ties NYSC participation to the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), a digital platform designed to preserve and authenticate academic outputs. By this arrangement, undergraduates, postgraduates, and even graduates from foreign institutions must upload their research works into the national databank before their names can be considered for mobilisation. Those applying for exemption certificates will also be subjected to the same rule.

Universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education have been instructed to take responsibility for enforcing compliance, ensuring that their graduates have uploaded the required documents before forwarding their details to the NYSC. Compliance units are to be set up within NYSC state secretariats and higher institutions to monitor the process.

Government sources explained that the measure is backed by Sections 2(4)(4) and 16(1)(C) of the NYSC Act, which empower the President to alter mobilisation requirements in line with national priorities. The SGF stressed that the decision forms part of a wider reform agenda aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s education system, curbing academic fraud, and securing intellectual contributions for future generations.

NERD, according to the circular, will serve as a central academic repository that not only preserves the works of graduates but also provides independent verification of enrolment and graduation. For the government, this step represents a shift from paperwork to digital accountability, one that insists on tangible academic outputs as the true evidence of graduation.

With the countdown to October underway, the implications for students are clear: the NYSC certificate, once considered the final rite of passage, will now begin with a thesis deposit. For institutions, the challenge will be to integrate compliance into their graduation processes without leaving students stranded. And for the government, success or failure will depend on whether this policy delivers on its promise of restoring integrity and credibility to the nation’s education system.