The Federal Government on Friday
said it would address the issue of
dichotomy between HND and
university degrees by implementing the
recommendations of the technical
committee on the issue set up in April.
The supervising Minister of Education,
Chief Nyesom Wike, made the pledge
when he received the report of the
technical committee on the removal of
ceiling on career progression of HND
holders and dichotomy between HND
and university degrees.
He said, “Today’s event represents a
significant milestone in the effort of
government to respond to the public
outcry on the disparity between
holders of the Higher National Diploma
and university degree qualifications,
which had persisted from colonial rule.
“The report will be accordingly
forwarded to the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation for
immediate action.
“It will not be like other reports; one
thing we should know is that when
government comes up with a position
paper, that will be the final decision.”
The Academic Staff Union of
Polytechnics embarked on industrial
action since Oct. 4, 2013 and one of
its key demands was the removal of
the dichotomy.
The minister said a 12-man committee,
headed by the ministry’s Permanent
Secretary, was constituted by the
Federal Government and inaugurated
to address the issue.
According to him, the committee’s
terms of reference is to review the
curriculum of the HND and introduce
a bridging programme that will pave
the way for HND holders to reach the
highest grade level in the public sector.
He said the committee was also to
review the contents of the HND to be
equivalent to Bachelor of Technology
which could be awarded by
polytechnics.
He said, “In particular, the committee
called for the strengthening of the
National Board for Technical
Education so that it can continue with
the review of the curricular of the
polytechnic sector and bring it in line
with global and industrial standards.
“The committee identified the
imperative for changes to be made in
the classification of HND holders in
the Scheme Of Service as a first step
to opening the career ladder to enable
them to reach the maximum grade
level in the civil service.”
According to the minister, the issue of
extending the mandate of polytechnics
to award degrees was also considered
by the committee which, however,
stressed the need to maintain
standards by not creating two
different B.Tech degrees.
He said the committee considered it
more beneficial to synchronise the B.
Tech curriculum by the NBTE for
polytechnics with the B.Tech degree
approved for universities by the
National Universities Commission, to
avoid further dichotomy.
Wike appealed to the striking
polytechnic lecturers to call off the
action in the interest of the country as
the government was doing its best to
resolve all contending issues.
The President of ASUP, Dr Chibuzor
Asomugha, acknowledged the action as
a step forward.
“The union thinks the parties are
making some kind of progress; at least,
it is a step forward, depending on how
fast the government will act on this
report,” Asomugha said.
The president, who said there were
some other issues in the report that
had not been fully resolved, however,
expressed belief that more work would
still be done on the report.
The Chairman of the committee, Dr
McJohn Nwaobiala, who explained
reasons for the committee’s
recommendations and expressed the
hope that the contending issues had
been squarely addressed.

B.Sc and HND are two different certificate, two different schools, two different curriculums, two different experience.

Does government want to abolish Polytechnics and turn them to Universities, just like how it is being practise in South Africa?

I am still waiting to see how it will be success when many Nigeria Polytechnics lack infrastructure, human resources, funds etc to compete with Universities.

Thus, I am not against Polytechnics but I think what they should've done was to seek for proper funding, so that standard of polytechnic education will be appreciated thereby attracting employers to its graduates.

If standard of polytechnic education is high, the so called dichotomy will die a natural death. Employers will not care.

Let me stop here and watch how Nigeria government will solve this one

I hope this deal is done very fast.