The federal government has ordered polytechnics, monotechnic and other allied institutions to stop awarding its graduates degrees.
The national board for technical education conveyed federal government’s decision to affected institutions in a secular dated December 1, 2022.
According to a copy of the document signed by the board’s director, polytechnic programs department, Ogoh Ngbede, government is worried about the increasing number of tertiary institutions in the country offering programs for which they were not originally designed.
The federal government has given the affected institutions four years to graduate the last set of students already admitted for such programs.
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Public Affairs Analyst, Jide Johnson reacting to the development on TVCBreakfast said the intention of government was to remove the dichotomy between the HND holders and degree holders.
“Until 2006, there was a statue bar that was placed on HND and degree holders that they can never rise beyond level 14 in the civil service until the Obasanjo administration changed that policy that gives opportunity to people that had a national diploma to rise beyond level 14″.
” And like every issue in Nigeria, there’s a lot of political dimension, and there’s a lot of varying interest, and that’s why we always have policies on assault, We take ten step forward, we take five step backward.
Mr Johnson noted that there is need for polytechnic education, but the the national board for technical education to regulate the provision of technical personnel for various both private and public institutions across border, that is why the polytechnics came into existence.
“For us to really move forward, should the emphasis be on the certificate or on what you can deliver? What have we got to offer? And I think that it is high time for government to remove this dichotomy and let them award a certificate that is of comparable status.
“Until we do that, we will keep having these issues.
“The same Minister of Education in 2016 is still the Minister of Education today.
“Rather than solve the problem, we have further increased the problem, further diminished the HND certificate, and its psychological,” Mr Johnson said.
He added that moving forward, government needs to have a strong policy.
