₦airaland Forum

A bill to abolish the dichotomy and discrimination between Bachelor’s Degree holders and Higher National Diploma (HND) holders has scaled second reading in the House of Representatives.

According to the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, the bill sought to replace HND with Bachelor of Tech so that graduates of polytechnic would be able to compete favourably with other university graduates.

The bill, which was sponsored by a member, Fuad Laguda from Lagos State, also emphasised the importance of technical education.

Speaker Abbas said the position taken by all boards of polytechnics in Nigeria is “the abolition of HND and in place of it to have Bachelor of Technology so that at least graduates of polytechnics will be able to compete with those from universities”.

"At the same time, they are calling for hybrid supervision where the degree component of the polytechnic education will be handled by the NUC (National Universities Commission) while the national diploma will continue to be handled by the NBTE (National Board for Technical Education).

“Because of the degree component of this amendment, they felt that the qualification for being rector should also be upgraded to a Ph.D holder at the minimum since you will now be talking about degree programmes, it is only proper for such kind of establishment to have a Ph.D holder as the head of the institution,” he said.

Abbas subjected the bill to a voice vote and the lawmakers approved it to scale second reading.

RepoMan007:
The bill is a misplaced one. The world all over, polytechnics/tech schools, one on hand, and universities serve different purposes. If the syllabus for Polytechnics has derailed over time due to pay disparity and thus labour market bias, let the boards or commission in charge take the appropriate actions and correct that instead of trying to convert one into the order by decree. All major manufacturing economies of the world have a clear path for polytechnics and universities. Only fakes like ours think rank is everything and skill is nothing.

muyico:
Dog dreams ,can't never come to past

Trendie247:
https://www.channelstv.com/2025/03/04/bill-to-end-hnd-bsc-dichotomy-scales-second-reading/

immortalcrown:
1.
What inspired the bill? I mean, which crisis led to the proposal of the bill?

2.
Is it right for HND and BSc. to be treated equally when the processes of obtaining the both are not the same?

In my opinion, the bill is illogical.

I am not discriminating against anybody. I understand that a HND holder might be more intelligent and more skilled than a BSc. holder. But HND and BSc. cannot be the same as long as they are not obtained from the same institution. The point is that whoever wants BSc. should go to a university and whoever wants HND should go to a polytechnic. Why will someone who settled for police job fight to be seen and addressed as a soldier after joining the police?

If you could not go to a university because of some challenges that were beyond your control, it is understandable. But don't unleash your frustration on BSc. holders. If you manage to graduate from a university with BSc., do not mock or intimidate HND holders. But it is illogical to rate BSc. and HND equal.

hotwax:
What is really wrong with our BSc holders on this forum behaving as if they cult group.

The country need to move forward. You are not any better than HND. Not even a slight difference.

Na we dey interview them na. HND have outperformed their Uni counterparts in tech space. So why the anger?

immortalcrown:
1.
What inspired the bill? I mean, which crisis led to the proposal of the bill?

2.
Is it right for HND and BSc. to be treated equally when the processes of obtaining the both are not the same?

In my opinion, the bill is illogical.

I am not discriminating against anybody. I understand that a HND holder might be more intelligent and more skilled than a BSc. holder. But HND and BSc. cannot be the same as long as they are not obtained from the same institution. The point is that whoever wants BSc. should go to a university and whoever wants HND should go to a polytechnic. Why will someone who settled for police job fight to be seen and addressed as a soldier after joining the police?

If you could not go to a university because of some challenges that were beyond your control, it is understandable. But don't unleash your frustration on BSc. holders. If you manage to graduate from a university with BSc., do not mock or intimidate HND holders. But it is illogical to rate BSc. and HND equal.

immortalcrown:
1.
What inspired the bill? I mean, which crisis led to the proposal of the bill?

2.
Is it right for HND and BSc. to be treated equally when the processes of obtaining the both are not the same?

In my opinion, the bill is illogical.

I am not discriminating against anybody. I understand that a HND holder might be more intelligent and more skilled than a BSc. holder. But HND and BSc. cannot be the same as long as they are not obtained from the same institution. The point is that whoever wants BSc. should go to a university and whoever wants HND should go to a polytechnic. Why will someone who settled for police job fight to be seen and addressed as a soldier after joining the police?

If you could not go to a university because of some challenges that were beyond your control, it is understandable. But don't unleash your frustration on BSc. holders. If you manage to graduate from a university with BSc., do not mock or intimidate HND holders. But it is illogical to rate BSc. and HND equal.

immortalcrown:
1.
What inspired the bill? I mean, which crisis led to the proposal of the bill?

2.
Is it right for HND and BSc. to be treated equally when the processes of obtaining the both are not the same?

In my opinion, the bill is illogical.

I am not discriminating against anybody. I understand that a HND holder might be more intelligent and more skilled than a BSc. holder. But HND and BSc. cannot be the same as long as they are not obtained from the same institution. The point is that whoever wants BSc. should go to a university and whoever wants HND should go to a polytechnic. Why will someone who settled for police job fight to be seen and addressed as a soldier after joining the police?

If you could not go to a university because of some challenges that were beyond your control, it is understandable. But don't unleash your frustration on BSc. holders. If you manage to graduate from a university with BSc., do not mock or intimidate HND holders. But it is illogical to rate BSc. and HND equal.

simpleseyi:
Nonsense Bill. HND and Polytechnics should be scrapped, SIMPLE.

I went to Fed Poly Offa, and YabaTech and I have three Masters degrees, currently running the fourth one. Don’t ask me what I’m doing with them, it’s not your business.

On my CV and on Linkedln, I list my education from ND, HND, PGD, MSc-1, MSc-2, MSc-3. I intentionally start from ND so that any viewer can see that I am a Polytechnic product and I am stubbornly proud of it.

However, Polytechnics have been scrapped in US and UK where Nigeria copied it from. As a matter of fact, one of the two foreign universities I attended and currently attend, used to be a Polytechni, but have been merged with another higher college and converted to a university. So, why is Nigeria hanging on a dead institution?

All Polytechnics should be merged with other colleges or universities. SIMPLE

OlujobaSamuel:
How many countries have you seen offering HND, even the UK that brought it to you don abolish am.
Diploma will still remain, it is HND that will be removed.
The entry requirements for both students and staff will be adjusted to reflect that of BSc.
The major reason for the noise is the duration of the certificate and the use as cheap labour in the market.
Why should anyone use 5yrs for a coursework, then get a job with lower pay but employer choose to use such to carry out task of a degree holder??
Some organisations will recruit everyone together, having same job functions, but won't promote a class of certificate holders because of the title on their paper