The polytechnic education was not originally intended to belong to the tertiary tier of education. It was initially conceived by the French and perfected by the English and Russians to be education and training aimed at discouraging elitism and geared towards the practical preparation of its recipients to fulfill prescribed norms of the economy, which are lacking in the traditional academic institutions. The aim was to evolve an educational system based on work and training. Although, this was later reformed in China, which led to its being regarded as a university-level institution, specializing in Engineering and Technology and providing in-service training and continuous education.

However, Nigerian Polytechnics are established with the mandate to produce middle-level manpower. The term by implication simply means graduates of Polytechnics no matter how robust their program is will never be considered equal to their University counterparts, who are regarded as the ‘higher level manpower’. Many a time, It has been argued that the National Diploma (ND) holders from the polytechnics constitute the ‘middle-level manpower’ referred to in the polytechnic Act. If that’s the case, then the laws establishing polytechnics ought to have been amended or polytechnics converted to Universities before they are allowed to run a program higher than the ND.

The HND program was introduced without doing any of that. What were they thinking? Besides, the HND program of the British government, from which our own HND was copied, does not require a prerequisite two-year diploma like ours.
It’s an independent two-year program and is considered equivalent to the first two years of a 3year bachelor’s degree program. That is, with the British HND, you’ll only need to spend one more year in the University to get a bachelor’s degree. Clearly, those who designed the Nigerian HND program didn’t know what they were doing. The ND program was sufficient to supply the much needed middle-level manpower.

Furthermore, Nigerian HND holders are agitating reason being that if it takes 5years to get Nigerian HND unlike the 2-year British HND that many compare it to why are they still not equivalent to B.sc holder Counterpart? Why are they treated with an inferiority complex in the labor market?
Courses worth more than 120 Credit-Hours, the minimum required internationally to bag a bachelor’s degree, must have been passed before earning HND. Affirmative in this regard by revealing that Nigerian HND is equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in their evaluations.

For years many successive Federal regimes in Nigeria have paid lip service to the cry for the abolishing of the prevailing HND/BSc dichotomy not until the President Muhammadu Buhari led FEC meeting finally scrapped the 2-year Higher National Diploma course.

What that means is that Polytechnics will henceforth be limited with the award of National Diploma (ND). Any higher qualifications by these private or state-owned polytechnics will be the only affiliation with a university. The current HND students or newly admitted will continue and complete their programmes and be awarded HND but there won’t be new intakes for the Higher National Diploma. When students are done with ND, they will be given admissions into universities attached to their polytechnics to continue to earn the award of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.)

The HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificates will continue to be recognized as the equivalent of first-degree holders without discriminatory remunerations and limit to progression in the workplace. Some Federal MDAs has commenced partial implementation of this policy but one thing is missing. The HND graduates are still discriminated against in the offer of key scholarship schemes such as PTDF Oversea scholarship and other Federal Scholarship programmes. 

Many foreign Universities around the world, UK (PTDF partner) precisely offers HND graduates unconditionally admission for MSc. And alot of such graduates have bagged higher degrees with HND certificates without going through any foundation/or Postgraduate programmes. Yet PTDF and these Scholarship boards has intentionally excluded HND certificate holder from participating in those schemes that they are qualified. If HND and BSc can be employed in same grade level 08 as equals, it is their right to be enlisted for PTDF oversea MSc scholarship programme.

I call all HND certificate holders whose right to this programme has been denied to rise up and sign this petition. I also call on good will Nigerians at home and in Diaspora, international communities and lover of education Justice, to make this petition achieve the required signature. It takes US to make this happen. Injury to ONE is injury to ALL.