ASUP Issues 15-Day Ultimatum To FG On HND, Degree Dichotomy

Muhammad Sani Uba, Kano

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to regularize the scheme of service between degree and Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate holders in Nigeria.

The Coordinator of ASUP Zone A, Dr. Abdulazeezi Ibrahim Badaru, addressed newsmen at the Kano State Polytechnic, campus, on Friday.

He stated that the new scheme of service released by the Federal Government through the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to polytechnics in Nigeria is discriminatory and unacceptable to its members.

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Badaru argued that it is detrimental to the professional progression of polytechnic graduates.

Furthermore, he said the union believes that the responsibility for drafting and approving the scheme of service should not rest solely with the Office of the Head of Service and NBTE. It should include other stakeholders, especially ASUP.

Badaru said, “ASUP rejects the dichotomy in the Graduate Assistant entry point where an HND graduate requires an Upper Credit while a degree holder requires a Second Class Lower to enter the polytechnic as a lecturer.

“CONTEDISS 12 is demoralizing, unnecessary, and detrimental to the polytechnic sector. This will discourage students from enrolling in polytechnics and will further widen the dichotomy and student apathy towards polytechnic education.

“The preference given to Bachelor’s degrees over HND certificates for the appointment of registrars and bursars is highly discriminatory. The document is biased and discriminates against its products. We vehemently reject this.

“The deliberate exclusion of HND Pharmaceutical Technology from the document, despite a subsisting court order, shows a gross violation of the rule of law. The union rejects this and urges the NBTE to make every arrangement to reinstate HND Pharmaceutical Technologists into the document.

“In view of the above observations and others not captured here, the union has issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to suspend the implementation of the document or face industrial disharmony.”