Nigerian government scraps HND certificate

The Nigerian Government has scrapped HND Certificates in Polytechnics following a decision that was reached at the Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday.

The award of HND will be limited to only the students currently admitted for the programmes.

Also, all the programmes currently being run by polytechnics, which are not technology-based, and which are about 70 percent, will be scrapped.

Under the new rule, the polytechnics will now become campuses of the closest universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the polytechnics, subject to the consent of the Universities Councils.

The polytechnics will now be limited to award of the National Diploma (ND) while those desirous of further education will be awarded the Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) by the proximate university.

To kick-start the new policy, the nation’s two most prominent polytechnics – Yaba College of Technology and Kaduna Polytechnic– will hence forth be known as City University of Technology, Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna.

And to legalise these approvals, the FEC approved the submission of two Executive bills to the National Assembly for enactment.

The Ministry of Justice will do the preparation and submission of the two bills to the National Assembly.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, spoke to journalists after the meeting,

There will be no more award of HND. After we have exhausted the current students under the programme, there will be no more award of HND. This means that there will be no fresh admission for HND programmes. And in addition, any programme that is not technical will be out of the polytechnics, he said.

About 70 per cent of polytechnic graduates are in the non-technical courses. It is going to be a rigorous implementation programme.

He added that;

The HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificate will continue to be recognised as the equivalent of first degree holders without discriminatory remunerations and limit to progression in the work place.

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