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.
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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