NIGERIAN students under the umbrella of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), have vowed to shut down polytechnics and other institutions awarding Higher National Diploma (HND) if President Muhammadu Buhari fails to assent to a bill to end the dichotomy between HND and BSc awarded by universities.
They gave the President 14 days to sign the bill and make it one of his achievements in office or face the wrath of “over 20.1 million” students and graduates of polytechnics and related institutions in the country and the Diaspora.
In the students’ letter, signed by the NAPS Deputy Senate President, Adeniji Temitope, and posted on his Twitter account on Monday, April 24, the students’ body said the “Bill for an Act to Abolish and Prohibit Dichotomy and Discrimination between First Degree and Higher National Diploma, passed by the National Assembly in 2021 and transmitted to Buhari, failed to enjoy his assent.
“The Senate arm of the National Association of Polytechnic Students through the Office of Deputy Senate President has agreed on shutting down all Polytechnic, Colleges of Technology and allied institutions that award Higher National Diploma across Nigeria if President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, the President Federal Republic of Nigeria, doesn’t assent to HND/Bsc dichotomy Bill in the next fourteen (14) days.
“For some time now, we observed that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been assenting to many bills, but HND/Bsc dichotomy Bill hasn’t been attended to. In line with this, if the President Federal Republic of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR fails to assent to this bill within Fourteen (14) working days, the polytechnic students across Nigeria will occupy Presidential Villa in Abuja and continue to cry until President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR assent to the bill.”
The students argued that polytechnic students and graduates had supported Buhari’s government since he came into power in 2015 and shouldn’t be treated like outcasts.
Buhari leaves office on May 29 after serving two terms of four years each.
The ICIR reports that the students’ threat follows appeals by Nigerians to the President to sign the bill.
The Civil Service in Nigeria has different entry levels for employees with Bsc. and HND certificates. The career of HND graduates terminates at most on Level 14, while those with Bsc reach Level 17, the highest in the civil service.
The dichotomy also plays out in the country’s security institutions. HND graduates are recruited on a step lower than those with BSc, who are engaged as commissioned officers.
But the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board abolished the policy in 2019, leaving other government departments, agencies and ministries with the policy.
Another disadvantage suffered by HND holders is that they don’t progress directly to Masters Degree, but will have to enrol for a Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD).
At several meetings she headed or attended, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, pledged that the Federal Government would remove the dichotomy, but Buhari’s refusal to sign the bill that will end the gap has voided such promises.
The ICIR reports that the crisis has lingered after the Federal Government had in 2006 (during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government) constituted a White Paper Drafting Committee on the Consolidation of Emoluments in the Public Sector to end the dichotomy.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].