₦airaland Forum

ishmael:
Baba did military engineering. Is he a member of COREN and NSE?? What kind of engineering work do dey do in the army sef; is it vehicle and gun repairs and maintenance??

COREN did not register baba because his highest qualification is HND.
In 1976 when he became Head of state some people try but, he was turned,
In 1999 when he became President of Nigeria ,COREN huriedly prepare his CERIFICATE No R0929 as his reistration number back dated to 1976.
In August 1999 NSE quickly gave him Fellow of Nigerian society of Engineers (the then PDP chairman Engr Gemade was at work.)
So COREN gave him MERIT award in 4th Nov 2002

He attended Baptist high school before joining army in 1958

Mons officers cadet school, Aldershot England

Royal College of Millitary Engineering Chatham, England

School of survey Newbury England,

Indian Defence Staff College, Indian Army School of Engineering

Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

Rumour had it that he was at Yaba Tech.

donmayor:
He went to both, that is y he is running the country like,

Like what? this is 3rd term where are those ones that will no rule like

Zebu which one is your own in probability?

A perspective on the discrimination against Nigerian HND graduates

CHRISTIAN DIMKPA

Jena, Germany



cdimkpa@ice.mpg.de



Wednesday, May 10, 2006



At present, the average Nigerian graduate, be they of the university or the polytechnic hue, is largely poorly trained and therefore ill-equipped to face life’s dynamic realities. On a visit to Nigeria last summer, one of my former lecturers at the Michael Okpara College of Agriculture (MOCA), Owerri, Imo State, during a discussion, concluded that the last set of motivated and serious students of his college graduated in 1998. I agreed with him not because I was of that set but because my HND research project attests to that. However, I remembered that this same lecturer, like several of his peers, rather than engage the students in rigorous academic work, sold plagiarised handouts to us like no man’s business.



This brings me to the recent directive from President Olusegun Obasanjo aimed at ending the discrimination between HND and BSc graduates. Whether employers of labour are heeding this directive or not is another story. But, tell me, what is there to discriminate against when both qualifications (as obtained from Nigeria in recent times) reek of mediocrity? The truth is, like his BSc counterpart, the present Nigerian HND graduate is a lazy, dependent fellow who would not take his destiny in his hands. Many students attend polytechnics for several reasons. For me and for many National Diploma (ND) students, being from just an average-resource family, undertaking an ND program was a form of security, since the later is of shorter duration, and there is no guaranteed funding for the longer BSc program. It was reasoned that in the event of loss of sponsorship (from death or loss of job by the sponsor), one can pause after the ND, work for a while with that intermediate certificate, and then continue with higher studies from savings made. For the much longer BSc program, loss of sponsorship midway could see the individual involved back to school certificate level. Would you blame anyone for reasoning this way? I wouldn't, not with poverty so palpable in Nigeria.



Although I was fully aware of the discriminatory phenomenon, I did not let it be a roadblock to my ambition. If you will permit, a brief delve into my career might help to buttress this point. I used to hold (of course, I still hold) an ND and a HND in Crop Production, both from relatively non-renown higher institutions in Nigeria. However, it is instructive that today I am pursuing a PhD program at one of the prestigious Max Planck institutes in Germany (best research institute in Europe and eight best globally), and this is in an innovative field of study that, perhaps, may never be conducted in any Nigerian university many years from now. This is after obtaining an International MSc degree in Belgium from a university that is listed among the first 300 globally. Note that no Nigerian university is in the first 500. In the newspaper recently, one Nigerian stakeholder lamented that even if the ranking is extended to the first 5000 best universities, Nigerian universities would still not make the list.



After my HND studies in 1998, I worked with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, as a Research Assistant. During the interview for that position, several BSc graduate applicants from ‘well-known’ universities such as UI, UniLag, OAU-Ile Ife, among others, were interviewed as well, but the big university names associated with those candidates did not save them from relegation, as footballers are wont to say. What I am emphasising here is that it is the intellectual quality of the individual, not the institution attended, that often matters. If you know IITA, then you will agree with me that when it comes to staff recruitment, personal merit is the watchword, not merely possessing a HND or BSc degree.



Afterwards, I applied for graduate studies at the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta (UNAAB). Surprisingly or not, I was not considered suitable for admission either because of my HND (even at upper credit level), or because I do not come from that catchment area (remember the federal character scourge in Nigeria). But that is by the way. Nevertheless, I did not relent in my desire to attain the highest academic level possible, so that in spite of possessing a HND and the unexplained rejection by UNAAB, and thanks to hundreds of Internet hours, I soon obtained a full scholarship from the Belgian inter-university council (www.vlir.be) in 2003, to study Molecular Biology (Plant Biotechnology) in that country.



When I arrived in Belgium for the English-taught MSc program, I found out that of the 241 Nigerians who applied for scholarship for the course, I was the only one admitted. Remember, I held a ‘less worthy’ HND, not the ‘almighty’ BSc. The curious mind that I am, I inquired more about the unsuccessful Nigerian applicants and behold, they were mostly university graduates (again from UI, UniLag, OAU, UNN, UniPort, etc). To crown the ‘HND victory,’ two other students of The Polytechnic Ibadan were also admitted but for different MSc courses. That polytechnic offers only HND and not BSc programs. The three of us had a good laugh, as they had also been discriminated against earlier. Such is the power of the individual merit.



I have since acquitted myself very well in the Belgian MSc program; hence I was admitted, again on full fellowship, to one of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) of the Max Planck society in Germany (see http://www.mpg.de/english , and also http://www.ice.mpg.de),to study beneficial plant-microbe interaction using modern biotechniques, including proteomics and metabolomics. The other Nigerian scholars formerly holding HNDs have since undertaken different higher pursuits here in Europe. Several other such examples abound of successes with HND certificates in and out of Nigeria.



This narrative does not by any means attempt to denigrate Nigerian BSc graduates or the universities from which they graduated; millions of excellent Nigerians, home and abroad have passed through these institutions. Rather, the piece attempts to deemphasise the entrenched segregation. Emphasis should be placed more on what an individual graduate made of himself from the university or polytechnic. There is even a dichotomy between federal and state university graduates. Wonders shall never end in Nigeria! From these experiences, it can be seen that the senseless HND-BSc dichotomy should have no place in the mind of any serious-minded Nigerian graduate. After all, the HND is fully recognised in the UK and has several equivalents in other European countries. What then is all the fuss about it in Nigeria? My little advice to the Nigerian HND holder who has suffered this discrimination, and who feels qualified enough for certain positions denied him or her is this: Do not let man-made barriers block your ambition, except you have none. Take a cue from others; take time off to do meaningful Internet browsing, not using the Internet for 419 and other such negative activities. In no time, you too can obtain a scholarship to a much better-rated institution of higher learning abroad. By so doing you would have catapulted yourself well beyond any possible academic discrimination if you choose to return to Nigeria to work.



****

Christian Dimkpa, a PhD fellow of the International Max Planck Research School, writes from Jena, Germany (cdimkpa@ice.mpg.de)

www.kwenu.com: Simply surprise yourself yonder!

when are we starting when we are busy selling Degree in please of technological development.

We can not redeem HND because the policy makers has made it too inferior so Close the polytechnics and raise the stardard of Technical colleges.

Simply close down the "yeye" school

The discrimination will end this year Surely with the help of almighty

So much evils in details. With so much money you are not protected aganst the HND discriminations.

I am not sure of Atiku University
My friend at SHELL Abimbola Daniyan wrote that he is
convinced that the only intent of the Government institutionalised discrimination is the elimination of serious competitors .
They delibrately narrowed field of participation created by the lack of industrial and cultural expansion in Nigeria.

When next you see anyone brandishing their paper qualifications but not their performance track record, take note that you are seeing an ignorant person covering up the fact with the futile arrogance of paper. He/she is a paper tiger.
A tiger does not boast of its tigritude [paper/theoretical ability to maul], it will actually tear up somebody, and the case is settled! Tell your paper tiger to SHOW US what he/she has done with the paper degree. It is all part of the culture of waste prevalent in the underdeveloped mind.
We must redeem the day. The Indians (and now)- the Chinese too are already here! Let's stop boasting and let's start doing and our work will speak for us. The HND/BSc unending discrimination and ensuing debate are one major reason besides "corruption" why Nigeria has failed to industrialise, because those who know are often sidelined and those who don't know get moved into positions of decision making, where they wield power -unfortunately with little real life experience on which to ground their decisons, and so they fail!
If you ask me, telling a lie is the root of all corruption. Telling a delibrate lie [when we say a man is "not qualified or not competent" when in fact he is!] - because of the inordinate ambition to gain an upper hand over a good competitor- is corruption. All corrupt acts necessarily begin with a delibrate lie.

Obasanjo na HND holder
Aregbesola is HND holder
Atiku NCE but not degree holder. Me HND-Holder so if they like let them discriminate. Soon they will be eating their certificate.

Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:06:06 +0100
From: abimbola.daniyan@shell.com
To: nate88et76@yahoo.com
Dear All

I have followed closely the interesting debate over the years on this matter of HND/BSc. I hope that the NITE Secretariat will go into its archives and re-publish the series of major seminar papers and memoranda by NATE on this issue for the education of the public at large. One impact of the discrimination against HND in Nigeria is the squander/wastage of national intellectual and industrial potential and capacity. I am convinced that the only intent of the Government institutionalised discrimination is the elimination of serious competitors in the delibrately narrowed field of participation created by the lack of industrial and cultural expansion in Nigeria. When next you see anyone brandishing their paper qualifications but not their performance track record, take note that you are seeing an ignorant person covering up the fact with the futile arrogance of paper. He/she is a paper tiger. A tiger does not boast of its tigritude [paper/theoretical ability to maul], it will actually tear up somebody, and the case is settled! Tell your paper tiger to SHOW US what he/she has done with the paper degree. It is all part of the culture of waste prevalent in the underdeveloped mind.
We must redeem the day. The Indians (and now)- the Chinese too are already here! Let's stop boasting and let's start doing and our work will speak for us. The HND/BSc unending discrimination and ensuing debate are one major reason besides "corruption" why Nigeria has failed to industrialise, because those who know are often sidelined and those who dont know get moved into positions of decision making, where they wield power -unfortunately with little real life experience on which to ground their decisons, and so they fail!
If you ask me, telling a lie is the root of all corruption. Telling a delibrate lie [when we say a man is "not qualified or not competent" when in fact he is!] - because of the inordinate ambition to gain an upper hand over a good competitor- is corruption. All corrupt acts necessarily begin with a delibrate lie.

Abimbola Daniyan

I welcome the JJC to Nigerian Educational politics. For HND you require at least 1 year + ND+ 4credits.

The polytechnic education and my course content are more compared with that of university. get back later,

That your friend is confused. Just wait few months and see.

I wonder what your likes are looking for here? Dogma. Guyana eat a lot of church slaves that depend on others. Do not murder your free will, tithes are not for Nigerian. Do whatever you like with your money, it is your money but do not compel others to act foolish under false pretense. Tithe today remain an act of stealing by method.

HND enginering working in an Engineering company will be happy more than the Fully embarrassed , devalued BEng.
Tell him to go to college of education we will not like to see such face in COREN. What a useless certificate now, BEng in other part of the world will be involved in equipment development. this one here na teacher. Let me ask you is he a teacher in Nursery and pry school?

BA Theology working in accounts department and HND holder in Accountancy with ICAN can not get job simply because he/she own HND.
HND banking and finance sent off from a BANK and Bsc Biology Education Heads account department. All for the embarrassment of HND certificate. Is that the reason while I should go to obtain degree? In this "spoil System"? More degree holders are equally jobless but that is referred to as unemployment. A university degree holder in Engineering working in the bank is it not unemployment? A Lawyer teaching in the secondary school must be more embarrassed than an HND holder.

We need technological independent

What is the work of Bsc zoology in a bank? Kah!

We are not leaving anything for granted, Please let us know what we need to do next as good hands would not want to go to the Polytechnics again, thank you for your efforts.

We need to turn nigeria to a production nation not consumer like the way the Degree holders made it. Just Degree in what?

Often you listen to an ND holder saying he was in the polytechnic. Look this our society spoil finish the technological education now we depend on china for every thing. Pants o, name the underwear, pins or common tooth pick they are all imported. we are not independent technically yet. ah!

I am now the Deputy National President of NITE a COREN recognized engineering body.
HND will soon be hot cake as the white paper lifting the obstacles on HND soon be out. Regards

Survey conducted prove that It is HND holder or OND holder who later obtained degree made the problem worse for HND holders

HND is real Nigerian problem.

Save HND Certificate from Embarrassment today!
Save HND Certificate from Embarrassment today!!
Save HND Certificate from Embarrassment today!!!
Save! save!!
HND Certificate from Embarrassment today!!!!

That is to say to HELL with the polytechnic education in NIGERIA.

Contact all the NAPES polytechnic student around you and the latest let meet and form a way forward in NAIRALAND.

We need to make a move o

Do you think they will pass the law? They can stop the bill o what do you think. Please let all HND holder move back to school so as to send all this people from getting all jobs.

Today we have army of unemployed graduate here and there, HND is poor man's certificate as no job for them the Bsc obtained from oversea can get job but home base will have to fight with HND for the available job. That is why they discriminate

nurenga:
hello guys
I think you have personalised this issue.please take it easy because nobody seems to be listening

TAke side now on the issue B. Sc. vs HND, is the case settled or what can you do to settle the case .

I love you all for your understanding and standing up to help less privileged you know HND is the poor man son hope. The bigmen can afford 500,000 naira per semester.