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Tag: HND

  • Senate moves to bridge HND, degree disparity

    Senate moves to bridge HND, degree disparity

    The Senate took the first steps yesterday to stop the disparity between degree and Higher National Diploma (HND) holders.

    A Bill for an Act to abolish and prohibit dichotomy and discrimination between degree and HND in the same profession/field and related matters scaled the second reading at the Senate.

    Sponsored by Patrick Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo Central), the bill focuses on the controversy over wage disparity and discrimination against HND holders in the public and private sectors.

    In his lead debate, Akinyelure noted that continuing injustice, disparity and discrimination meted out to polytechnics graduates was threatening to derail the nation’s core policy thrust of evolving a technological and scientific based self-sufficient and self-reliant society in the nearest future.

    The senator urged the Senate to intervene in the interest of industrial harmony and development.

    He noted that there was sufficient evident that thousands of potential polytechnic and technology students were contemplating while some had decided to opt for university education because of the perceived and real discrimination against HND graduates in preference for university degree holders.

    According to him, if those involved are allowed to opt out of polytechnic education, there will be a vacuum in the labour market.

    Akinyelure said several entreaties were made to the Federal Civil Service to stop the glaring wage disparity and discrimination against HND holders.

    The entreaties, he regretted, were to no avail.

    “And, as if to make matters worse, certain Federal corporations are known to openly discriminate against HND holders to the extent of limiting their progress within the hierarchy of such government bodies,” he added.

    Akinyelure stressed that a government employment policy that places degree holders above HND holders without recourse to skill and ability of the HND holders does more harm than good.

    Many senators contributed to the debate for and against the bill. But Senate President David Mark said the issue was difficult to legislate on.

    Mark said: “I think it is more of attitude than what we can legislate on. For whatever it is worth, it is an interesting bill.

    “I believe that if it goes to public hearing, we will get many people who will be interested to give their views on whether or not the bill should be passed. But judging from the debate here (Senate), our attempt to equate HND to a degree is not likely to work. What will come out of it is to find a way forward, which is where the problem is at the moment.

    “But to spend four years, you have a lower entry point; you have to go and do two extra years to get a degree. Then, you suddenly say I don’t need the two extra years. Just equate me, then I move along.

    “I think that is going to be a very difficult thing. Nobody, who has done a degree, went back to the polytechnic to do an HND. You can’t fault that logic.”

    The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Education for further legislative work.

  • Poly Alumni accuse FG of negligence

    The Forum of Nigeria Polytechnic Alumni Associations (FONPAA) has expressed displeasure over the federal government’s handling of the ongoing strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP).

    The group noted that the nonchalant attitude of the government is aimed at obliterating polytechnic education completely in the country.

    It also urged the federal government to tackle discrimination facing holders of Higher National Diploma (HND) in the labour market.

    In a statement by its National Chairman, Ojo Olawale and Secretary, Olayode Omorayewa, FONPAA said: “This problem of disparity between the two certificate holders had been resolved during Obasanjo’s administration.

    “What the present administration needs to do is to formally gazette the policy for implementation.”

     

  • The HND stigma

    My wife is a polytechnic graduate but if she has her way, she will not approve of anyone attending a polytechnic.

    Her reason is simple. She has experienced lots of discrimination in her working career which makes nonsense of the official claim that the Higher National Diploma (HND) is an equivalent of a university degree.

    Based on her experience and that of others she knows, she thinks polytechnic graduates are unfairly treated by employers both in the private and government establishments and I think she is right.

    “Why should we be qualified to serve together and yet our certificates are not equally rated at the point of employment,” she usually asks in discussion about graduate employment.

    When she was employed in a state teaching service commission, she and her HND graduate colleagues were placed on level seven unlike graduates who got level eight placements. She later got to know that HND holders have to acquire a Masters degree in teaching-related fields to aspire beyond a particular level, unlike degree holders.

    She eventually got admitted for a Post Graduate Diploma degree at the Lagos State University but the same university refused her admission for Masters Degree on the excuse of being an HND graduate.

    She had to opt for another state university outside Lagos for the required Masters course which lasted for almost four years instead of the stipulated one year.

    She is so happy to have finally overcome the stigma of having an HND, which according to her officially makes polytechnic graduates in government service feel inferior even with the staff number assigned to them until they get higher qualification.

    The private sector has apparently taken a cue from its government counterpart and it is usual for HND graduates to be discriminated against by employers who sometime don’t even employ non university graduates.

    My wife’s situation captures the burden of many polytechnic graduates which is rather unfortunate considering that but for the limited spaces for university admission many HND graduates would have preferred to get a degree. Some even have better secondary school certificates but have no choice but to attend polytechnics after waiting endlessly for university admission.

    The ongoing strike by polytechnic lecturers which has not attracted the same level of attention as that of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU), by the federal government confirms accusation of government’s indifference to polytechnic education by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP.

    According to ASUP President, Chibuzo Asomuhga, even though the government agreed to implement four of their demands before the strike was suspended in July, none of it was implemented until the union resumed the strike on October 4 last year.

    Just as in the case of the ASUU, the government seems to have perfected the act of failing to implement agreements reached with unions which has always resulted in further strike.

    Polytechnics in the country are indeed in a deplorable state and there is urgent need as demanded by the lecturers to carry out a NEEDS assessment, as it was done for universities to determine the funding requirements and provide them.

    It is bad enough that the president now has to intervene to end strikes by some unions or associations in the country. If that is what is required in this case, so be it. The strike should not be allowed to continue to minimise the damage already done to the education sector in the country.

  • Woman excretes wraps of hard drugs

    Woman excretes wraps of hard drugs

    A 32-year-old woman, Chizoba Anya Vivian, is being quizzed by anti-narcotic officers for allegedly excreting wraps of a substance which tested positive for methamphetamine on-board a Qatar Airline flight from Malaysia.

    The suspect was said to have aroused suspicion following her frequent visit to the toilet. On arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, three wraps of methamphetamine were found in her possession.

    The NDLEA commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr. Hamza Umar, said the suspect excreted two additional wraps, while under observation.

    His words: “The suspect was found with three wraps which she excreted in the aircraft. While she was under observation at the Lagos airport, she excreted two additional wraps of drugs. The five wraps which tested positive for methamphetamine weighed 80 grammes.”

    Preliminary investigation also revealed that the suspect left Ghana where she ingested the drugs to Malaysia.

    In Malaysia, she was denied entry and made to board another flight back to Nigeria. She started excreting the drugs at the airport in Malaysia.

    The suspect said she was offered M500,000 to smuggle the drugs to Malaysia.

    “I was promised the sum of half a million naira but my problem started when I had immigration problem in Malaysia. I was denied entry and made to return to Nigeria after two days. While in the aircraft, I excreted three wraps and two other wraps in the NDLEA office,” Vivian said.

    Vivian, who hails from Onitsha, Anambra State said she just completed her Higher National Diploma (HND) in Business Administration at the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State. “I just completed my HND programme and I am from a very poor family. I wanted to use the money they promised me to assist my siblings by smuggling the drug to Malaysia,” she added.

    Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, warned against what he called the get-rich-quick syndrome.

    “Drug traffickers must avoid get-rich-quick syndrome and understand that a good name is better than ill-gotten wealth that comes without peace of mind,” Giade said.

    The NDLEA boss also urged passengers to be vigilant and report suspicious passengers to the authorities.

    The suspect will soon be charged to court.