Association of Private Polytechnics in Nigeria has called on President Bola Tinubu to sponsor a Bill for an Act to abolish the dichotomy between Higher National Diploma (HND) and bachelor’s degrees.
President of the association, Dr. Benjamin Achiatar, made the call in Abuja on Wednesday.
The dichotomy between HND and bachelor’s degree holders allows holders of the latter to be given preferential treatment in government jobs over the former.
Achiatar said though the National Council on Establishment had officially removed the dichotomy, its implementation was very poor because according to him, it is not properly backed by law.
“The Bill to back it up was passed at the 9th Senate but was not duly signed into law by the then president.
“Therefore, a new bill needs to be sponsored, or the previous one should be revisited by the present 10th National Assembly and sent to President Bola Tinubu for his assent,’’ he said.
Achiatar said that due to the dichotomy, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) records showed a drastic reduction in the number of polytechnic applications every year.
Achiatar, who is the Proprietor of Gboko Polytechnic, stressed the importance of technical education in fast-tracking the industralisation of any country.
“We handle mostly technical training in Nigeria. In polytechnics and monotechnics, we have various courses; we train our students both in theory and practical.
“The emphasis we place on practical training is what makes us different from the university,’’ he said.
Achiatar said Nigerians needed to understand that technical and technological education was very important to the industralisation of Nigeria.
“We are requesting the government to pay attention to all technology and technical education in Nigeria because, in the last few years, interest in technical and technological education has been reducing.’’
He argued that the increasingly lower number of students applying to polytechnics and monotechnics in the country through JAMB was affecting the economy as a whole.
“We are hoping that the government will see this and give adequate attention to this area which will enable students to see the incentive to train in the field, ‘’ he said.
He said the lack of incentives discourages students from taking up courses that lead to HND, adding that generally, governments seem to be paying more attention to university education.
“That is why we are requesting that the government should sponsor a Bill in the National Assembly that will do away with the dichotomy,’’ Achiatar said.
He noted that recently the Governing Councils (CCC) of Polytechnics emphasised the need for conversion of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) into a commission.
Achiatar said the association was in full support of the conversion.
He clarified that converting the NBTE being the regulatory body, into a commission, would also allow the NBTE to cater for the progressive needs of Nigeria’s polytechnics.
“It will have the capacity to work with the National Universities Commission (NUC), to do accreditation in Polytechnics for the award of B.Tech (Hons) which will attract more students,’’ Achiatar said.
