The Federal government has unveiled a new Schemes of Service for Polytechnics stakeholders, under which holders of
Higher National Diploma (HND) will be employed as lecturers in the polytechnics.
Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof. Idris Mohammed Bugaje, made this known during the formal unveiling of the new Scheme.
The Scheme of Service for Polytechnics stakeholders was recently approved by the Head of Service, Folasade Yemi-Esan.
He said the development is to check the influx of academic staff from universities into polytechnics, particularly those lacking skills and qualifications.
The new Scheme of Service will also unify recruitment and promotion practices across Nigerian Polytechnics, whether federal, state, or private, and also offers a consistent framework for hiring and promoting staff in Polytechnics across Nigeria, encompassing Federal, State, and private institutions.
Bugaje noted that reaching this milestone involved over a decade of effort and struggle by the staff unions and rectors of Polytechnics through the various bodies including the Federal Ministry of Education, and the NBTE.
Under the new scheme, the Instructor cadre, previously representing segregation against HND holders, has been abolished; HND holders who have achieved good grades will now be appointed as Academic Staff (Graduate Assistants), similarly to their degree-holding counterparts, within their own system.
The Technician cadre has also been merged into the Technologist cadre, which now permits National Diploma (ND) holders to be appointed as Assistant Technologists; and the Pharmacy Technology cadre has been preserved and those with a HND in Pharmacy Technology who may not be permitted by the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria to work in hospitals will have positions in the public service safeguarded.
