Reps pass bill to end longstanding HND, BSc dichotomy for second reading

The House of Representatives has advanced a bill seeking to abolish the long-standing dichotomy and discrimination between Bachelor’s degrees (BSc) and Higher National Diplomas (HND) in status and employment, passing it for a second reading.

The proposed legislation entitled, “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Federal Polytechnics Act, Cap. F17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to, among other things, review the Functions of the Polytechnics and for Related Matters”, was co-sponsored by Abbas Tajudeen, Speaker of the House and Fuad Laguda, Lawmaker representing Surulere I Federal Constituency.

Leading the debate for the Bill during plenary on Tuesday, Laguda, explained that the bill seeks to amend section 15 of the principal Act to enlarge the powers of academic board of polytechnic to among others to award Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) honours degrees.

The Lawmaker said the bill also proposed an amendment to Section 3 to include represtatives of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria in the council of every polythechnic. He explained that the inclusion of MAN is to enlarge the scope of federal polytechnics and ensure a result-orineted administrative structure.

He further said the Bill seeks to amend section 8 to raise the bar with respect of those seeking to occupy the position of Rectors in the federal polytechnics to a minimum qualification of a PhD due to the degree-awarding component.

He argued that the proposed amendments will improve the provision of technical education in a better organised polytechnic system.

The House speaker informed that the Bill seeks to abolish HND and replace it with B.Tech so that graduates of polytechnic will be able to compete favourably with other university graduates

“And at the same time, they are proposed to a high-grade supervision, where the degree component of the Polytechnic education will be handled by the NUC; while the diploma, will continue to be handled by NBTE”, he added.

After debate, majority of Lawmakers voted that the bill be read a second time. Abbas subsequently referred it to the Committee on Polytechnics and Higher Technical Education for further legislative action.