NERD was established to create a national reference point for education data consistency, prevent loss of academic records, verify academic credentials, enhance research quality through plagiarism detection, retrieve, warehouse, and classify 77 years worth of academic research across all Nigerian tertiary institutions, and serve as a collaborative hub for Nigerian educational institutions.

Initiated in 2013 by the Federal Ministry of Education and NUC, NERD's National Policy was approved by FEC in 2023. In February 2025, FEC approved NERD's implementation and effectiveness with mandates to: provide National Credential Verification Service, National Publication Indexing Service, provide a national plartform for the identification of bankable intellectual outputs and original research efforts with potential for commercialization and industrial application from the nation's tertiary institutions from 1948 (for universities) and 1932 (for polytecnics) and make research output available to a larger number of innovation entrepreneurs within the industry thus bridging the gap between academia and industry and serve as a critical factor in fostering national development planning and tracking.

• Prevents academic fraud through credential verification
• Preserves Nigeria's intellectual outputs in perpetuity
• Bridge the gap between research, innovation and industry
• Provides equitable access to educational materials nationwide
• Enhances research quality through plagiarism detection
• Creates national publication indexes and end publication-triggered capital flights
• Maintains national sovereignty over educational data