Abubakar Sani Sambo, the commissioner for Education in Kaduna.
Abubakar Sani Sambo, the commissioner for Education in Kaduna, has urged the federal government to revive the 100-year publishing gap in Nigeria.
The former vice-chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, addressed the press in a statement.
Sambo said the government must “continually give strong support for the generation of knowledge through academic publishing.”
The academic said the publishing gap has impaired the growth of education in Africa.
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Sambo also commended President Bola Tinubu for promoting digitalisation in the education sector with the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD).
The commissioner said he would explore the opportunities to promote the national policy on NERD in Kaduna state “to ensure that higher institutions embrace and comply with its regulations.”
Sambo said the programme is a significant step to “eliminate the recurring education rackets, fake certificates, and the festering for-profit honour scams.”
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The NERD programme was approved by the federal executive council in February 2025.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have also been mandated to align its mobilisation regulations with the NERD programme.
The new NYSC requirement will take effect from October 6, requiring graduating students to upload their academic outputs on a portal.
The policy also mandates the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to fund or refund only students who have complied with the NERD policy on the deposit of copies of their SIWES, industrial training, and similar reports.
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Haula Galadima, the executive director of cybersecurity for the NERD programme, implored the public to utilise the services on the NERD information portal.
