News
Succour at last for HND graduates *NBTE upgrades programme to degree
Higher National Diploma (HND) to a bachelor’s degree Top Up programme, was designed to facilitate career and academic progression of HND holders, Prof. Idris Bugaje, Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Bugaje, who said that the initiative would ease the suffering of HND holders in the country, was quoted to have told NAN that the August 14 announcement of the one-year top up programme, which could be applied through: https://topup.nbte.gov.ng, to convert HND certificate to a bachelor’s degree, was to ease the decades of suffering of HND holders, adding that efforts were made to remove the dichotomy between HND and bachelor’s degrees without success.
According to him, HND represents the best products of the Polytechnic system, stressing the need for them to progress and study for masters’ degree and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.
“Unfortunately, up to today, a HND holder is not allowed to proceed for a master’s degree directly, but in Portugal and some other European countries, it is allowed. In South Africa and other places, HND holders are given a route – one additional year for Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) degree and another year for a master’s degree.”
He explained that under the top up initiative, NBTE proposed a two-year master’s degree programme for HND holders but to be run in polytechnics and not in the university setting.
This, he said, was necessary because of the differences in vision and orientations between the HND and degree, adding that a curriculum has been developed for some engineering and environmental programmes.
Bugaje said that the curriculum was taken to the former minister of education for the attention of the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, but it did not scale through.
He said that to keep the hope alive, the NBTE had to find an alternative route for the progression of HND holders, adding that the alternative route was for them to do the one-year top up.
He said that with the initiative, they will be able to get a B.Sc. in addition to HND and also enroll for a one-year masters and go further for a PhD.
“If they follow the route of Post Graduate Diploma (PGD), they will still be looked down upon in the university system.
“After they finish the PGD, master’s and PhD, come back and want to join any Nigerian university, they will ask them, where is your first degree?
“This is a very unfortunate situation and NBTE cannot allow things to continue this way.
“We have to find ways for our products and that is why we developed this top up programme with recognised and accredited foreign universities,” he said.
He said that some of the universities were in Europe, some in Asia, and some in North America, adding that the institutions were highly rated in university ranking.
He expressed optimism that the partnership with the foreign universities, if successful, might attract some Nigerian universities to key in.
“The move is not to allow HND holders to stagnate, noting that HND holders should be joining the polytechnics as assistant lecturers just like their university counterparts.
“At the moment, this is not allowed. This is injustice and NBTE cannot fold its hands and watch, As such, we must find ways to improve, and get the HND holders to progress,” Bugaje said.
He explained that the procedure of the top up includes a “credit mapping”.
He said that the NBTE has uploaded all the content of the accredited HND programmes in Nigeria into a software.
He said that the software was designed to pick the B.Sc. content of the corresponding university, outside Nigeria, match them and find the gaps between the two.
“That’s what we call credit mapping. The credit mapping process will now bring out those specific courses that will require you to meet up with the B.Sc., including laboratory practical.
“This is the arrangement being made and we hope the Nigerian education system will join us in promoting it, so that our HND holders are not left behind in terms of progression,” he said.
Bugaje said that those who enrolled for the programmes would get quality education and the fees was about 10 per cent of what they would have paid if they had enrolled for full time.
He also said that the universities have agreed to split the payment into two and pay per semester.
“The Nigerian system has a lot of prejudice against HND holders, and I hope this will change, because it is not going to help Nigeria.
“It is a colonial attitude and unless we change this attitude, development in Nigeria will stagnate.
“I hope Nigerian universities will buy-into the programme so that we can move this nation forward and stop the prejudice against HND holders,” he said.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
-
News5 days agoBREAKING: Mystery death! *Female student dies a day after arriving Umahi’s home!
-
News5 days agoDon’t jump to conclusion! *Umahi speaks on mysterious death of female students!
-
News3 weeks agoBREAKING: Court sentences Nigerien, two others to death over terrorism
-
News2 weeks agoBREAKING: EX-SSG mowed down by gunmen! *He resisted being kidnapped – driver
-
News4 weeks agoTwo hours after Igboho’s ‘red-eyes’ to ‘Fulani’ leaders, gunmen free kidnap victims!
-
News3 weeks agoAbductors of Oyo teachers panicking, freedom coming for victims soon!
-
News1 day agoBREAKING: Terrorists strikes another school! *Kidnap principal, students, NECO official!
-
News3 weeks agoChicagogate: Nigerians return to court! *Move to stop Tinubu from 2027 polls