We’re still treated as second class citizens, HND holders tell Buhari

TRACKING___Graduates with Higher National Diploma (HND) certificates have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to wade into the controversy surrounding the career progression of HND holders in the public service.

They noted the continued discrimination of HND holders in public service compared to their counterparts with university degrees, saying they’re still being treated like second-class citizens.

Coordinator of the coalition of HND stakeholders, Sebastian Onyemaobi told newsmen in Abuja that the “Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation was yet to implement government’s white paper which directed the removal of undue dichotomy and ceiling on the career progression of HND holders approved by the Federal Executive Council on September 2006.”

He said recommendations in the White Paper were further reaffirmed by FEC in March 2007 and June 2018 but the OHCSF continually turns a blind eye to its implementation. They gave government four weeks to compel the implementation of the White Paper or face a mass protest from them nationwide.

Rector, Federal Polytechnic Bida, Niger State, Dr. Abubakar Dzukogi has called on the federal government to curtail the activities of unions in tertiary institutions in the country. He lamented that the Academic Staff Union Of Polytechnics (ASUP) operates like a parallel body to the administrative leadership of polytechnics thereby constituting a setback to institutions.

He berated government for failing to abide by the UNESCO national budgetary requirement of twenty eight percent to fund the educational sector. In an interview with The Guardian yesterday, Dzujogi noted that faulty foundation was responsible for poor educational standards in Nigeria.

According to him, teaching should be made attractive and not the last resort because of lack of jobs that forces people into it just as he suggested the return of teaching colleges in the country as measures towards tackling the problem.