The House of Representatives has passed a bill which abolished the existing dichotomy between Polytechnic Higher National Diploma and the Bachelor of Science degree awarded by the Nigerian universities.
The bill was passed during Tuesday’s plenary.
The legislation, which was sponsored by Ali Isa and Edward Pwajok from Gombe and Plateau States respectively, was passed for second reading since April 2017.
It seeks to end perceived discrimination against polytechnic graduates and remove the challenges being faced by HND holders, especially those in the public service.
While leading the debate for the bill to pass second reading, Pwajok said research he carried out on both certificates, showed that the discrimination had no moral justification.
He said that the unfortunate situation would make the international community to look down on the status of educational institutions in the country.
The lawmaker said that it was unfortunate that such discrimination existed in a critical sector required for national development, regretting that there was a lot of segregation at employment level.
According to him, those with first degree are placed on Grade Level 8, while those with HND are placed on Grade Level 6 or 7.
He said that in some organisations, degree holders were paid N100, 000 at entry level, while their counterparts with HND were paid N70, 000.
The lawmaker said in other countries, technical experts were paid higher than administrators, adding that “the reverse is the case in the country’’.
– NAN
Congratulations to a constitution that places the minimum level of education for lawmakers at Primary 6 while people seeking professional employment are required to have a minimum of tertiary education.
Whoever places premium on mediocrity over intellect has him or her self to blame. He carried out a research that proved somebody who works with his brain and the one who works with his hands are doing thesame thing.
I hope that your research is also able to prove that one implication of neglecting brainworkers is the constant skidding of vehicles and the irreplacible lives lost on newly constructed roads awarded to handwork contractors that have takenover the place of Ingeniers?