₦airaland Forum

The end of the talk

HND is for slaves not for their own children.
24 years ago they pay for us to go to poly, with free food etc. Little did I know that HND is a trap that nobody want to do anything with. HND like pupu
Now they throw us out to suffer.
The then government gave us free education at the federal Polytechnics, free feeding and accomondations.

Factors like reading only to pass QED

Joblessness made them pen pushers, and force life out of the practical men. No wonder they call it bad policy. We shall face it squarely together now. no more HND slaves.

Yes People will operate OKADA with degree than to be technically sound in the polytechnic that would made him employer of labour.

We as a nation produce such a level of hatred towards technical jobs, everybody want degree eh!

For now no manson,mechanics etc. Only Okada riders or pure water seller. We do not need the number of civil engineers we have now in the country. 75% of over 16,000 register engineers in the country mainly civil servant in miniseries and teachers.

The Nigerian engineers has no job hence taking over technicians Job.

1."To be sure, HND graduates have faced serious discrimination in the employment market, where employees would rather give preference to university graduates.
2.The answer, however, does not lie in scrapping the HND programme and fusing polytechnics into existing universities.
3.Such palliatives focus on superficialities and ignore the decay in our educational system; the disconnect between the manpower needs of the economy and the educational system; the structural imbalances in the national economy and its inability to absorb the products of our secondary and tertiary institutions.

4. the economy does not have the capacity to resolve the horrible level of unemployment while the educational system itself is incapable of producing the requisite manpower with the skills and knowledge required by the nation's economy.

5. As such, the nation finds itself in a Catch 22 situation: it produces graduates who are not employable;

6. runs an economy laid prostrate by infrastructural weaknesses

7. low capacity and therefore incapable of providing employment for its citizens.

Viewed against this background, the Federal Government's decision to end the HND programmes
8. transform our polytechnics into campuses of adjacent universities

falls far short of expectation?

How? for 31 years of injustice ?

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/editorial_opinion/article01

EDITORIAL & OPINION

Thursday, April 05, 2007  
       
 The banning of HND programmes
THE Federal Executive Council (FEC), took the decision recently, to discontinue the Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes in federal polytechnics. Instead, the polytechnics are to be consolidated into proximate universities to award the Bachelor of Technology degree to their graduates. Two of the federal polytechnics, Yaba College of Technology in Lagos and Kaduna Polytechnic will transmute into city universities as autonomous institutions. The HND certificate will, however, remain legal and continue to enjoy parity with university first degree certificate.
The polytechnics will continue to award Ordinary National Diploma while reserving the award of higher qualifications to their affiliate universities. All non-technical courses will be removed from polytechnics to allow them maximise their capacity to train technicians and technologists. The same policy instrument was extended to Colleges of Education that award the National Certificate of Education. Their affiliate universities will take over the responsibility to award degree certificates in education.
In line with the constitutional stipulation that places education on the concurrent list, the Federal Government left it to the states to decide if they wished to consolidate their tertiary institutions. Those that chose not to do so will continue to have their programmes regulated by the relevant agencies of the Federal Ministry of Education.
The policy shift by the Federal Government is based on the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on the Consolidation of all Federal Colleges of Education and Polytechnics. The committee's name is quite revealing, particularly of the intentions and operational modalities of the government. It is obvious that the Federal Ministry of Education, had already decided to scrap the HND programme from the country's tertiary education system and merely established the Presidential Committee to work towards the answer, as it were. We think that this strategy is wrong.
There is something fundamentally wrong with the country's educational system and not only the HND programme. To be sure, HND graduates have faced serious discrimination in the employment market, where employees would rather give preference to university graduates. The answer, however, does not lie in scrapping the HND programme and fusing polytechnics into existing universities. Such palliatives focus on superficialities and ignore the decay in our educational system; the disconnect between the manpower needs of the economy and the educational system; the structural imbalances in the national economy and its inability to absorb the products of our secondary and tertiary institutions.
Put simply, the economy does not have the capacity to resolve the horrible level of unemployment while the educational system itself is incapable of producing the requisite manpower with the skills and knowledge required by the nation's economy. As such, the nation finds itself in a Catch 22 situation: it produces graduates who are not employable; and runs an economy laid prostrate by infrastructural weaknesses and low capacity and therefore incapable of providing employment for its citizens.
Viewed against this background, the Federal Government's decision to end the HND programmes and to transform our polytechnics into campuses of adjacent universities falls far short of expectation. We believe that what the nation needs is a blueprint for development. The nation needs a well-articulated mission and vision statement backed by a concrete plan and strategy of development. Such a blueprint will perceive the nation, its economy and people from a holistic and fully integrated perspective, it will recognise and provide for complementarities among various sectors and sub-sectors and set the country on the true path to development.
The Honourable Minister of Education, who has demonstrated her capacity to generate ideas for reform, might bring her gifts to bear on what is clearly a national crisis. We urge her and her colleagues in the Federal Executive Council to develop a more holistic and integrated view of the national crisis. The crisis is not limited to the education sector only. It affects virtually every facet of our national life. Or are they not aware of the comatose state of our infrastructure, economy, and health services; the hunger of our people for the basic necessities of life; for knowledge and skills; for jobs and living wages; for a good, conducive, secure and healthy environment, for national harmony; for political and social stability, for national cohesion and for economic development?
Nigerians want their country to compete with the best in the world if only their leaders would develop the vision to take them to the promised land. Tunnel visions such as the one proposed by the Federal Ministry of Education, and adopted by the Federal Executive Council with regard to the scrapping of HND programmes, are mere superficialities. They ignore the fundamentals of our national malaise and can therefore not resolve the crisis in education, much less the national crisis of underdevelopment.

THE GUARDIAN EDITORIAL
The scrapping of HND: A bad policy

Do you agree with this?

THE Federal Government' decision to scrap the Higher National Diploma (HND) qualification awarded in its polytechnics makes no sense whatsoever.
A certain Professor Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Presidential Technical Committee on the Consolidation of Tertiary Institutions was quoted to have said, somewhat with an air of finality, that from the day the report (of the committee) is finally approved and the necessary changes in the law made, ?in the next few months, there will be no HND as a programme anywhere. It will be abolished and replaced by B.Sc., B.Eng. and B.Tech. as the case may be?.
The professor hinges his committee?s position on the refusal of employers of labour and universities to rate the HND as equal to a university degree. In his considered opinion, therefore, the consolidation of these institutions and the conversion of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) and Kaduna Polytechnic into universities will solve the problem permanently. We say unequivocally that this is a bad policy based on a flawed, even trivial justification.
First, the reason advanced by the learned professor. No one should deny that the HND is not the same as a degree: whereas both are tertiary level qualifications, the admission criteria differ and the course contents differ, and the specific purpose for which, say, a manufacturer hires an HND holder is not that for which he would hire a university trained engineer. Obviously then, employers of labour, as well as the universities have the right and duty to maintain the distinction, but without falling into the pit of undeserved discrimination. At any rate it is because there is a fundamental difference that the one is called a polytechnic and the other a university. And, while the one can be upgraded to the other, the reverse is never done. But why scrap a major national education policy merely because some interests react to it in their own peculiar way?
Polytechnic education was introduced as a component of our philosophy of manpower development, and for good reason. Not a decision frivolously taken by the founding fathers of the relevant institutions this type of tertiary level education was established by law, conceived, designed, and carried on to meet specific educational ends of the students on the one hand, and the manpower needs of our country on the other. The complement of goals has served Nigeria?s human and national purposes. Indeed, there has never been any doubt about Nigeria?s desperate need for technical expertise; the polytechnics exist to produce trained personnel with hands-on technical skills for the real sector of the economy.
As a general rule, the real sector of the economy is the engine of national economies; in a well-managed economic system, therefore, technical hands that make the industries run, that translate the ideas on the drawing boards into equipment and goods, are most sought after, they are never in need of employment if they so choose. The National Policy on Education (2004) states that the polytechnics shall provide the technical knowledge and skills necessary for agricultural, industrial, commercial, and economic development of Nigeria. But, by their training, technical hands are equipped to self-employ and even create jobs.
The polytechnics are further mandated to give training and impart the necessary skills for the production of technicians, technologists and other skilled personnel who shall be enterprising and self-reliant. Over the years our HND graduates have generally not been found wanting in terms of competence. Besides, very many successful and highly placed persons in government and business are HND holders. There is ample evidence that when it comes to getting the job done, the hood does not make the monk; the certificates don?t either.
That the technical cadre of our country?s manpower is falling into disrepute is a glaring pointer to the abysmal failure of government at two levels: manpower planning and economic management. The factories are closing or relocating at an alarming rate, the ones still in business operate at a fraction of installed capacity, many warehouses have been converted into houses of worship. There is, as a result, a shortage of factories to train polytechnic graduates in the practical aspect of their education.
Over time, there is a growing dearth of properly trained and sufficiently experienced technical personnel to repair equipment, erect buildings and other structures without flaws, and generally service the national economy with their knowledge and skills. There are many products that Nigeria imports but which can be produced here by our technicians if only government would create the enabling environment.
Furthermore, the government is charged by the National Policy on Education to improve immediate and long-term prospects of polytechnic graduates and other professionals with respect to their status and remuneration. Surely this can be done without the cancellation of HND programmes that is being contemplated. The only consolation is that the Federal Government is restricting itself to Federal universities; state governments should refuse to follow the Federal Government?s example in this matter. State Policy on Education should not be based on the imitation of ill-digested models, either local or foreign. It is totally simplistic to argue that Nigeria should convert its polytechnics into universities because another country is doing so.
It needs be stated that the university imparts a particular kind of education, it teaches why things work; the polytechnic teaches how things work. A nation needs both to drive its development process.

Both NUC, NBTE are now scrapped and replaced with new commission and the draft bill is out . check front page of MONDAY 2/4/2007 guardian newspaper for details

Please Nigeria do not need Engineers since all Nigerian wants is importation of goods (Buy and Selling) So technician hat can maintain the junks. No made in Nigeria things right now.

Summary of FEC RESOLUTIONS FOR:



14th March



FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RESOLUTIONSFOR WEDNESDAY, 14TH MARCH 2007

The Federal Executive Council met on Wednesday for its usual weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, with President Olusegun Obasanjo presiding.

Briefing State House correspondents, after the weekly meeting, the Minister of Education, Dr. Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, who briefed alongside her other colleagues from the Ministry of Aviation, Water Resources and Women Affairs, said that council approved the recommendations of Mahmood Yakubu’s Committee Report on the ongoing reforms in the country’s Educational Sector.

Amongst some of the approved recommendation are that HND holders would now be recognized and treated as degree holders from the universities. She equally said that HND degrees will be referred as bachelor of Technology degrees. FEC also approved that some polytechnics be made colleges of technology, while the Kaduna Polytechnic and Yaba College of Technology are now to be converted and known as City Universities of Technology.

According to the Minister of Education, HND degrees will continue to be a legal tender in the country and holders of such certificates will continue to be recognized as the equivalent of first degree holders without any discrimination.

She equally said that NCE certificate will be retained as the minimum teaching qualification to be obtained as the basic level of requirement.

Ezekwesili added that under the reforms polytechnics will now be campuses of proximate universities, with vice chancellors of those universities appointing the provosts for the polytechnics, subject to ratification of the universities councils.

The polytechnics will now be limited in terms of awards of certificates, as they will now award only National Diplomas, while those desirous of obtaining B. Technology will be awarded by the proximate universities. The approvals will be sent to the National Assembly for the necessary ratification and passage into law.

The council also approved the formal take over of the Waziri Umaru Polytechnic in Bernin Kebbi, which is now to become college of Technology Campus of Othman Danfodio University, Sokoto. Also taken over is Hussein Adamu Poly in Kazaure, which will be a College of Technology of the proximate University in the state.

The Alvan Ikoku College of Education Owerri, Imo State has been taken over and it is affiliated to the Federal University of Technology Owerri.

Nigerian HND holders wish to thank  the  Nairaland   and all Likeminds as

                                           HND HOLDER
                                             FREE AT LAST !

The Federal Government on 7th of August 2006 inaugurated the Presidential Technical Committee on the consolidation of Tertiary Institutions. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette at a Presidential forum said;
“The Federal Government is convinced that we should consolidate all Tertiary Institutions. This means the conversion of all Federal Polytechnics and Federal Colleges of Education into campuses of proximate and contiguous Universities. At the same time, government is convinced that two of the oldest and most well established polytechnics in the country located at Yaba and Kaduna should be transformed into Universities in their own right to be known as City Universities of Lagos and City University of Kaduna, respectively.”

The Nigeria Association of Technologists and Engineers (NATE) is a Professional Association of mainly Polytechnic Graduates in Engineering and Allied Professions. The Association, established in 1976 and Incorporated in 1988 is the only organized and registered body of Polytechnic Graduates in Nigeria. We have always been concerned and  mindful of the plight of HND holders .

The Association have made presentations on this matter to:
1. Federal Ministry of Education
2. Federal Ministry of Science and Technology
3. Federal Ministry of Establishment
4. Federal Ministry of Works
5. Federal Ministry of Justice.
And most importantly visit to Mr. President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on more than one occasion.

Our concern in borne out of the fact that HND and BSC are equivalent qualifications.
In the past, the Federal Government have set-up several commission among which are Chief C.A.E Longe commission 1990 and Justice Kalu Anyan commission 1999 for the  review of higher education in Nigeria.

The outstanding conclusion of this commission is that “The HND Curriculum was since enriched to supersede that of the Universities to meet the demand of higher technological manpower”. Recently, the Federal Government, in recognition of this outstanding conclusion decided to abrogate the ceiling placed on HND as part of the measure to eliminate the discrimination against them.

NATE on behalf of millions of HND holder in Nigeria welcome and embrace the consolidation of tertiary education as pronounced by the Federal Government in its totality. We congratulate the President and Commander in Chief of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obansanjo GCFR and the Federal Government for taking this bold step at this crucial time. We acknowledge with gratitude and appreciate this magnanimity and love of the President for a just and true Industrial and Economic growth of our dear Nation.
From what we have read in the Newspapers, the Federal Government has abrogated the HND qualification. This is in line with current trend, the world over as in UK and Ghana and it is commendable.

In our view, and by implication, the abrogation of HND, converts current holders of such certificates to Bachelor Degree holders automatically.
This consolidation of tertiary institutions as outlined by the Secretary to the Federal Government, applies to the Federal Institutions only.
We implore the Federal Government to make it mandatory for the state to comply.

In conclusion, we acknowledge with gratitude and appreciate this magnanimity and love of the President for a just and true Industrial and Economic growth for our dear Nation.

Thank you

The Nigeria Association of Technologists and Engineers (NATE)
Nairaland HND Holder is the Current Deputy National President of NATE

Under the new rule,

the polytechnics will now become campuses of the proximate universities

with the Vice Chancellors of those universities

appointing provosts for the polytechnics,

subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils.

The polytechnics will now be limited to award of the National Diploma (ND)

while those desirous of further education

[center][/center]will be awarded the Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) by the proximate university.

Former Polytechnics are now college of TECHNOLOGY will be for only Technological courses not for accountancy, Business admin, Banking and finace and college of Education for teachers only.

Nothing changed except in name. Degree will be run by the parent university in the old polytechnic for those ND holder for B.Tech, but if you apply to the old generation university for B.sc then you might be asking for extra year or too much. Instead of HND you will have B.Tech.

Some professional bodies might ask for Master before you can register etc

You are very right. I am from IFA family of Awodiope.
My father's name is FATOKUN this name was changed to Francis by the missionary. We were thought BIBLE and told that Ifa worship is Idolatry. We were given status of JESUS in place.

Now I knew nothing about IFA as my father knew, attempt to learn more was met with resistance from fellowship members as backsliding. CHURCH ! Modern slavery you will say was responsible.

Yes this happened in 2006

Whenever we have the white paper, remember no HND ever in Nigeria. we are all Degree holder. so most of the University new campuses will make use of Bright "HND" holders anyway.

Please note.

"The HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria

Holders of HND will continue to be recognised as the equivalent of first degree holders

Without discriminatory remunerations

No limit to progression in the work place[color=#990000][/color]

The PGD is a university affairs o. even inter departmental courses. That is the DANGER
because course content are not the same. The equivalency is at ministry only.

Would HND holders (without a PGD or MSc) be employed to teach in the university now??

No

Before now, holders of HND certificates were employed as Instructors while Degree holders were employed as Asst. Lectures to teach in the polytechnics; Would there be a correction (as in HND holders being employed as Asst. Lecturers) to teach in the polytechnics??

This would be the case with understanding

[Since HND has been given the same status as a university Degree, would people with HND who want to go for Masters go for Masters direct?? Or would they still be asked to do a PGD??

PGD is a bridge programme that allow you to move from one parallel line to another. if you have a degree in Chemistry and you want a  master degree in Chemistry education. you require a PGDE. Let say a degree pass, you need pgd. HND is a professional qualification hence the PGD to convert it to Academics.

alabiyemmy:
correct - no GPA in Masters - its either pass or Distinction.

Dapo4u:
me i went for master after PGD. I got 4.54/5 in my masters beating everybody to it
It is not about WHO you are but WHAT you are.Then as regards the statement,could anybody correct me if i am wrong,do they use GPA at Masters level?
Me thinks you can either graduate with distinction or credit.

Who are those THOMAS douting my M.Eng Grade. Check with my UNIVERSITY. FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AKURE.

This is what I got in the result notification.
University of Ibadan made use of % for its grading. I am too old to tell lies.

Certificate do not bear this grading.

At least something was done. Allow this to work first before criticizing it

Will that stop Nigerian Problems?The Nigerian polytechnics syllabus for Higher National Diploma is far above some of these countries Engineering technology. Nigerian HND certificate was regarded as that of postgraduate in some countries, based on the workload and the credit hours. What will happen now?

Under the new rule, the polytechnics will now become campuses of the proximate universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the polytechnics, subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils.

The polytechnics will now be limited to award of the National Diploma (ND) while those desirous of further education will be awarded the Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) by the proximate university.

The relegation of technical know-how in general manifests in many ways in
Nigerian society. Parents want their children to become doctors and lawyers
but rarely do they recommend engineers and technicians as role models for
their kids. When you mention technical education, people think of
nitty-gritty hard labour jobs, out in the sun in shorts and rolled up
sleeves stained with oil and grease. But we cannot also fail to recognise
the dangers posed to Nigeria's progress by the national obsession with
white-collar professions and vocations at the expense of the
no-less-important technical education and skills acquisition aspect. This
issue is gradually assuming alarming dimensions in the context of the
increasing importance of technical know-how and technology in general in
world development. The uncomfortable truth staring at us is that the modern
world is technology-driven, with less premium on memo-pushing white-collar
jobs that lure our people. It is therefore a matter of national urgency that
steps are taken to realign our educational bearings to dovetail into the
ongoing world-wide technological revolution.

Can any body tell us why the FG scrap the POLYTECHNIC? It is the HND that Nigerian hates.
Do people hate polytechnic too?

Govt scraps HNDs, merges polys with varsities
From Madu Onuorah, Abuja
THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved a comprehensive reform of Nigeria's tertiary education system, scrapping the award of the Higher National Diploma (HND) by the nation's polytechnics.

In effect, the award of the HND will be limited to only the students currently admitted for the programmes.

Also, all the programmes currently being run by the polytechnics, which are not technology-based, and which are about 70 per cent, will be scrapped.

Under the new rule, the polytechnics will now become campuses of the proximate universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the polytechnics, subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils.

Why The HND , yes the discriminaion is now over.