The National Universities Commission (NUC) has disowned a programme being floated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) which aimed at converting Higher National Diploma (HND) to university’s degree.

 

Acting Executive Secretary of NUC, Chris Maiyaki, in a statement, made available to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday, described the purported one year top-up degree programme in Nigerian Polytechnics as not feasible.

 

Maiyaki, who personally signed the statement, said the existing dichotomy between first degree and HND has not been abolished, even as universities and polytechnics have their individual unique programmes which would pose a challenge to such conversion scheme.

 

The online news, which was credited to the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Prof Idirs Bugaje and the Board’s Head of Media Unit, Mrs. Fatima Abubakar, revealed that the action was in furtherance of the advocacy for the removal of the existing dichotomy between degree holders and HND graduates in their various places of work, and to enhance the beneficiaries’ opportunities for further studies.

 

The Acting Executive Secretary said, NUC wished to inform the Management of the NBTE and the general public that the Bill for an Act to Abolish and Prohibit Dichotomy and Discrimination between First Degree and Higher National Diploma in the Same Profession/Field for the Purpose of Employment, and for Related Matters, which was passed by the 9th National Assembly in 2021, is yet to be assented to by Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

 

He maintained that, even though agitation continues to grow for the abolition of the dichotomy in Nigeria, there is, at the moment, no law that has removed the dichotomy between a university degree and the HND.

 

The Executive Secretary added that remain committed to the sustained commitment of the NUC to the development of a balanced, well-coordinated and productive University System that guarantees the delivery of quality education relevant to national development, and in the face of global competitiveness, the Commission wishes to state, categorically, that:

 

He also stated that,the place of technical education, the world over, is unique, this, in most higher education systems, Polytechnics co-exist side by side with Universities for the purposes of producing critical human resources, based on their peculiarities and in tandem with the the goals for which they were established, abinitio;

 

Maiyaki said the university degree awarded by the Nigerian University System or any cognate Institution, is not the same as the HND awarded by Polytechnics in Nigeria saying, higher education space, the processes, contents and methods required for the acquisition of a university degree are substantially different from those needed for HND programmes.

 

In the light of the above,  NUC urged NBTE to focus on its core mandate and desists from introducing programmes that are outside its jurisdiction, and not supported by any law in Nigeria. 

 

The Commission says it will not entertain any intrusion into its lawfully assigned mandate.