[b] ALL MANNER OF DISCRIMINATION IS ILLEGAL, CRIMINAL AND CONDEMNABLE.

It has always been in my mien to just pout and maintain a stiff upper lip whenever I’ve to deal with a self-conceited chap with some stunted psyche. Even stiffer my lip is set when the person happens to be an educated ignoramus. Is this not the matter with Davidylan? To a rational thinking person, his manner of thinking is perceived to be somewhere near something that sucks and definitely well below and pegs lower, his thinking ability.

This is typically one of those signs that our educational system has everything wrong with it, having failed in content and function to produce capable young men and women who are worthy in character and in learning to handle responsibilities and who can think aright. What then are we left with? Young men like Davidylan who may be worthy in learning (at least having managed to be issued with a certificate), but seriously lacking in character, good sense, sound judgment and emotional maturity. No little thanks to the organizational learning that Corporate organizations have to subject young graduates to (in the form of training) to see if they could try to get anywhere close to wiping the stripes off the zebra’s skin---by way of re-adjusting, re-tuning and fine-tuning their thinking patterns and hone their skills.

How can anyone in the 21st century overtly or covertly support any form of discrimination on whatever basis? Is this not a sign of the Dark Ages? This is the problem with Africa. Africa has blatantly refused to grow by its retention of obnoxious growth-retarding policies. This is why it has defied even the solutions which have been known to work in other places. A weight which has continually been bearing it down into the doldrums of inefficiency.

The youth they say are the future of our Nation. What hope then is there for our Nation? What future is there for our dear fatherland when the many amongst us still have the mentality of yester-years?

Go to many foreign Blog sites and discussion platforms and behold the spate and level of intellectual excitation that young people in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions carry on.You read about issues on scientific creativity, unbridled and seamless innovative imaginations of these promising young minds.You can't help but testify to the kind of future these young chaps are taking their destinies and those of their countries to. But for us here all we get busy doing and talking about is how to pose impediments, prevent others and mount roadblocks to people who challenge us.I weep for dear Nation Nigeria.
Look at the spate of politically instigated killings and violence in our country today. Where did it all begin? When will it end? No doubts from deep-seated intolerance of one against the other. If our young graduates at this stage of world civilization are this intolerant of challenges, then how prepared are we to right the wrongs the older folks have instituted in the land?

I hold an HND and a B.sc.-- a case of the taste of two puds. I believe that one who has not had any polytechnic experience like Daydlan, most corporate managers and our policy makers are ignorantly mistaken and incapable of sound judgment on the matter. This is because it is only natural that for you to make a faultless analysis, you must have a panoramic and firsthand experience of an issue. Afterall, why do lawyers hold hearing session? Why do legislators form committees who go down the grassroots to feel the temperature there?

As an authority in this issue. I put it to whoever that supports the discrimination of graduates based on the type of qualification as unnecessary, inhumane, dehumanizing, destructive to our educational system, anti-economy and a sheer exercise in barbarism.
Let’s see some arguments for and against the HND/BSc discrimination saga.

1. Proponents of HND/BSc discrimination over-ambitiously cites the constitution which stipulates that the polytechnic is there to manufacture mid-level, manpower while the university system is to produce high-level manpower in order to seem as if it’s the law that’s the culprit. Fine and good! Now is it not the same law that draws an equalizing between HND and BSc both in weight and face value? Hence we read BSc or equivalent. Now, I guess the study of languages is one key area of strength for the puritanical system of academia (university). Please let all English Language professionals dust up their dictionary and investigate the etymology and meaning of the word “equivalent”. “Equi” means ‘equal’. As when two masses placed on the scale pan of a balance weigh exactly same. ‘Valent’ is from the root “valency” as in forming chemical bond, used when the number of atoms or molecules of other elements are equal to the number of hydrogen atoms that the atoms or molecules can combine with or displace in a chemical reaction. Hence, the interchangeability, interdependability, and inter-complementarity between HND and BSc. You know know why people who stick to the LETTER of the law usually "fall" and break up while those who concentrates on the SPIRIT of the law will always "jump and pass as it were".

From the foregoing, we reach the logical conclusion that BSc and HND are exactly equal in weight and in face value, in importance and use. They are just variants of the same stock. So no one has the legal and or moral right to discriminate the other. This is illegal and criminal.

2. Proponents of HND/BSc discrimination support it as an escape route by corporate bodies to curtail the sea of applications in order to streamline the recruitment process. Now I ask who is being lousy? The Human resources function no doubt! Is it not their job to follow the recruitment process from start to a logical conclusion? What is the motive for hiring? Is it to amass all the bogus and hackneyed paper names, aliases and the “-isms” or is it not to source and hire qualified persons both in education, skill and purpose? Are we forgetful of the fact that the vibrancy, virility and robustness of any workforce consists in its variegated complexion in terms of quality and performance which is only achievable via the amalgamation of qualified people of different backgrounds be it by virtue of qualification, skill, training, talent or even race? Why do economies undertake deregulation? Is it not to liberalize and open the market for competition which results in better service? I hope some one is not afraid of competition here. And for the corporate organizations, please remind the human resources function to know that in a delicate, serious and sensitive matter such as recruitment, following shortcuts or the easy way is as dangerous as hiring the wrong persons. Easy way is always the costliest alternative in the end. Little wonder our economy, run by mostly BSc holders, is in good shape I suppose. Count the number of liquidated companies littering all around in Nigeria and going by that in a logical sequence, all other things being equal, is it not right to conclude that in Nigeria, BSc holders are not good managers?

3. Some proponents of HND/BSC discrimination assert to it that the polytechnic system is not handled by professionals namely professors. Well they are right if they add to it the phrase “in Nigeria”. For in advanced economies, PhD holders teach even in the primary or secondary schools. In kindergatens and early learners'. The problem with us is our system, the BSc managers who are managing our economic and political systems. Why would I complain if I earn what I am supposed to earn as a professor and you ask me to teach in a primary school? In the US, professors in child education and many other fields who teach in primary schools earn higher than most lecturers in the universities.

Moreover, the rot in our university system should be reason enough to tell any one who cares that having a qualitative educational system does not depend on the making and heaping up of professors. Rather it is in having qualified teachers and personnel who have the skill to deliver the teaching and learning tasks. This of course is not an exclusive prerogative of professors. Some non-professors have been known to be better teachers than many professors.

Times without number I’ve had to talk about this matter. But it’s been long I threw it to the back seat because as educated and enlightened minds, this is not the kind of stuff we should still be talking in the 21st century. Nigeria after some 40 years of independence should have gone beyond this savage barbaric stage of her struggle to freedom. The irony of it all is that this is a self-inflicted injury! That is why the advanced countries look at us and wonder whether it is the same God (nature, source) that made the Black African man. The only plausible idea that makes sense to them is to conclude that we as Black Africans came from monkey. So they call us ‘Black monkeys; the Black continent; the black planet”. What else do you expect? People who reason like us logically must have some traces of DNA from Orangutan and so must have come from a descent of monkeys.

Recently, our revered education minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, a woman of many books, an icon of impeccable repute, a source of learning, a woman I respect, was caught lamenting over the dwindling enrolment in our polytechnic system and a burgeoning clamor for university education. Dr. Ahmed Salihu, the executive secretary of Jamb followed suit in this outcry saying that only 20% of the total number who enroll for University admission also try Polytechnic admission. My question is don’t they know why? How can they expect polytechnic education to grow when the people who cry wolf are the same people who turn round to kill it by destroying the future, inflicting harrowing emotional trauma and psychological hurts on those who choose to follow it.

Our University education system has crumbled because our policy makers have destroyed the polytechnic system. This is because one cannot stand without the other since they are equivalents. The university system cannot stand without the polytechnic system standing. Any thing that affects the polytechnic system will eventually affect the university system. You know why? Because they are equivalents. One is the equivalent of the other. Remember the law of balancing equations? Add to one side and you must add to the other. Take away from one side and you must do same to the other side. We have already started seeing the signs. Nothing serious has happened and they are shedding crocodile tears about the collapse of the university system as signaled by the over-bearing mass-match towards university education. Now it is common knowledge that every rat and mice can hop into a university a have a degree torn out and handed to him. That is if you can pay for it though.

Why don’t we make a change and follow the trend of the 21st century where skill rather than paper qualification is the determinant to being qualified for responsibilities as practiced in advanced economies? Should be the “I can do” and not the ‘I have the paper’ attitude.

Most of the advanced economies in the world that we so much admire are where they are today not so much because of what goes on in their puritanical system of academia (universities) but much more to what goes on in what we call the polytechnic institutions. A case of curriculum differentia but all aimed at exactly the same objectives. So the principle of understanding the spirit of the law and not just the letter must be applied here.

Now look at the type of research and knowledge the puritanical system of academia(universities) engage in. They are usually white-elephant in nature. So bogus and grandiose that they are not usually practically relevant in the short-run. Some of them take fifty years, centuries and even generations before they become socio-economically useful, practical and relevant to society.But what do people need? What do organizations need? Is it extraneous analysis, long range researches and theorizations rather than practical time-lined innovations?

What value is the making of many books to the ordinary man if it cannot meaningfuly and practically revolutionize his lifestyle in his lifetime? Just look at most theories, they take very long time to convert to reality and practical equivalents. Think about the Human Genome Project, the HIV/AIDS studies etc. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that most researches going on in the puritanical system of academia(universities) may not be of any benefit to some of us in our lifetime because they are unneessarily long-term and futuristic in nature.

Now compare it with the things that come out of the polytechnic institutions. They are usually what the society needs at any given time. They are always relevant to the society. The needs of society is usually the determinant of studies, researches and innovations in the polytechnic system.The objective is always to solve human and societal problems. The researches are not so complex, confounding or dumbfounding like rocket science, neither is it simplistic like flying a kite. Rather it is what I call Technology with human face. Technology for you and with you in mind.Technology of solutions. Technology that makes sense and meaning to the people.Technology for everyday life.

This is where the complementarity of the polytechnic and university systems lies. You cannot plan for long-term purposes when you have not taken care of the short-term and mid-term issues. This is thus the difference between Africa and the advanced economies.

Therefore, the earlier we understand the dynamics of these scholastic forces, the better for us. We find out then that there's no single need for one to pitch itself against the other. We all are patners in making education work for humanity and not the other way round.If the university system insists on the downfall of the polytechnic system by supporting the marginalisation, discrimination and relegation of polytechnic graduates, then there is even no need for anyone to worry because it itself must surely crumble. Only a matter of time.

Now the truth of the matter is you can only hold a people down for so long. For when push comes to shove, the people must find a way out. Look at what is happening in the Niger Delta today. It is as a result of intolerance, discrimination and marginalization. That is enough lesson for us to know that all manner of discrimination, be it in whatever shade or colour is criminal and illegal. Now think of when educated minds will join the chorus and apply technology to terrorism which is now the order of the day in the world. When they'll not only stop at making peroxide have explosive potency but everything including detergent solutions (OMO, ELEPHANT, ARIEL, BIMBO etc) will become raw-materials for warfare technology. Get it right! I am not a prophet of Doom and gloom. But to be forewarned is as good as being forearmed. For it sure is a possibility. A word they say is enough for the discerning!

THE WAY FORWARD
The new education minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, a champion reformist no doubt has no small job to do in out rightly uprooting this gross embarrassment on the canvass of our corporate, economic, education, social, and political systems. Though I do not expect miracle from her, one fact being that she did not have a taste of the polytechnic system. So while she is capable, she may not really be able to be precisely exact in locating where the shoes pinch the wearers. Nevertheless, there is much she can do.

1. She should enforce the eradication of this unruly treatment of HND graduates by taking it to the various organizations exactly the same way the Local Content Initiative (LCI) is being enforced on the oil and gas sector as well as the way the ETF tax policy is being enforced on all corporate organizations. This presupposes that for any company to be licensed to operate in the country and for existing licenses not to be revoked, organizations must produce and present their white paper and blue print showing their open door policy on recruitment such that in all levels of job functions, nobody is discriminated due to the type of certificate he holds.

2. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) should stand up for the HND graduates who have been ill-treated especially in the banking sector. There is no reason why they should be at the sour end of the Recapitalization Policy.There is much the NLC can do to stop this arrant nonsense.

3. The senate should as a matter of urgency legislate so as to remove any legal impediments towards freedom for all-both HND’s and BSc’s. They should wield the sledge hammer in the direction of any organizations in Nigeria that support this barbarism.

4. Personally, my fight as an individual which I have started in my own small way is to make sure that the United Nations freedom charter is rewritten, reworded, modified and fine-tuned to take care of this form of discrimination so that no human being is discriminated by virtue of his sex, colour, beliefs, sex-orientation, education and qualification.

All you lovers freedom stand up for freedom for there is much everyone can do to accomplish what is right.

You can react personally to this write up to mervtheworldismyoystershell@yahoo.com

[/b]

Go and create your own job if you are not satisfied with what current employers are offering!

Nobody owes anybody a job. It's your duty to make yourself useful to others so they can pay you.

@wendell

Guy, wasn't that way too lenghty? I want to believe there was a thread on the 'disparity' you were meant to have expressed your opinion, moreso why the attack on davidylan's personality whatever happened to freedom of expressions?

Seun yes ur right but where does 1 get d little capital to start if he hasnt got any savings, anyway i got to learn some form of finance sometime ago that is called OPM, know what that means?, "other peoples money" haha

HH, omo you try jo. But try send this write-up go National Assembly, may be dem go respond.

[b]Honestly it pains me this time I am going to spend to write again on this issue from the same perspective, for me it is time wasted. I had expected reasonable intellectual and convincing argument on this issue. But the kind of reactions here are not anything to go by, here being a platform for good minds (graduates). Most reactions just went 180 degrees off-point.

We are talking of a matter of serious national and constitutional importance and somebody is talking about going to go open a home-based, self-owned business if one doesn’t like what the employers are doing. Is that the solution to the discrimination problem? If I create my own business has it solved the problem? What about the rest who may never be opportune to tow the same line? He also said that it’s one’s duty to make oneself useful so that employers can pay one. That reveals that he doesn’t even understand the issue. Now what use does a BSc holder have more than an HND holder? What is the usefulness of a BSc holder over an HND holder? What can a BSc holder do that an HND holder cannot do? Is this the best employers of labor can do? You see the depth of dumbness of this line of reasoning?

My boss who stumbled on this site told me that Nairaland platform casts a pall of doubts on the way and manner our institutions have sunken deep in the morass and miasma of hopelessness. The type of things they say are the stuffs one can't even hear at the motor parks from the touts no matter how hard one tries to read their lips.

If one talks now it will be seen as attacking personality, but nay it is not! Most of these negative ideas and tendencies should be nipped at the bud and not be allowed to spread and infest society. That is why we now have a lot of clean up and clean out to do in our society today because negative people have been allowed to spread their propaganda for their self-serving motives.

A person who lacks appropriate self-concept and self-respect will always look at reason, knowledge, and ideas with contempt and disdain. And in its stead spread ignoble behaviors and selfishness in the midst of his attitudinal flux.  But to set matters straight, I need to tell some guys like Seun, Davidylan, pepe, Molasco and co these:


There is this piece of wise saying that KITAUN has as part of his handle. It reads “What if I stay in the Ghetto, does it make you better than me?” Think about it before you proceed to read futher.


First and foremost, the article did not take people like you into consideration because it was unnecessary, as a gold nose-ring in the snout of a pig. I only posted that to set things straight. I did not write it for everybody. Only those who are psychologically and emotionally balanced can consume it. For the rest, the article is definitely not for them.

Any way, if you are a good graduate, you should have been able to find the Subject, Topic Sentence and then the Main Idea of comprehension passages. Nevertheless, all hope is not gone. UBE is there or you can just hop into any of those educational services centers (JAMB and SSCE Tutorial Classes) down your street. If you settle them well, and since you already have a paper you claim is a degree, they can offer you just 30mins refresher and arrange a certificate of Proficiency in English for you (That’s if u can pay them well oh!).

To help you out, the article succinctly says these:

1. That sound and functional education is the one that works for society and not the other way round.

2. That the language society understands is that which bespeaks solutions to its problems.

3.  That the needs of organizations are Aptitudes, Skills, Expertise, and Competencies and not paper nomenclatures.

3.  That Successful organizations are in dire need of those who have those time-tested attributes, aptitudes, skills, expertise and competencies which make for organizational success and business excellence such as hard work, honesty, integrity, flexibility, goal-oriented, business sense, organizational skills, interpersonal skills, strong communications skills, teachableness, value-driven etc. Organizations can kill for these competencies.

4. That even Harvard Degrees or Ivy League Degrees cannot guarantee you these competencies. So it’s all about you!

5. The world has slipped into the era of emphasizing aptitude, skill, expertise and competency. Nigeria can never afford to lag behind. If it dares, two things are probable namely; It will plunge itself into obsolescence and the world will afford to leave her behind. Like it or not, Nigeria must comply someday!

6. Now the ball is in your court. Start the process of change from your own little corner. That’s the only constant phenomenon and the best you can do for humanity.

You can as well send your reaction to wendell on   mervtheworldismyoystershell@yahoo.com[/b]