It was on June 2, 2017, the Nigerian Senate resolved to pass a bill that gives equal opportunity for HND holders to head the proposed Federal Road Authority (FRA), just like their counterpart, the holders of a bachelor’s degree, but surprisingly a senator representing Edo central, Senator Cliff ord Ordia, came out in full force to oppose the move on mere sentiment.
His reason is that “University graduates are engineers while polytechnic graduates are just technologists”, this is just his reason. I have a hundred and one reasons why there is no justifi cation of any kind to place a bachelor’s degree above HND, but for now I will make it another topic for another day, let me now restrict myself to the point the distinguish senator raised as his reason, i.e “University graduates are engineers while polytechnic graduates are just technologists”.
In Nigeria alone there are many universities of technology that graduate engineers which simply means that the so-called engineers are automatically the product of the technology. Th erefore, Ordia can only justify his claim to some extent if and only if he is able to convinced the global community to replace the “Technological advancement with engineering advancement” as it is contained in the indices of development, as well as sponsoring a bill that will eventually amend the Act establishing the Universities of Technology to universities of engineering.
Furthermore, those who took to themselves a duty to downgrade and disgrace HND qualifi cation were at the same time, but unconsciously placing the HND above their exaggerated bachelor’s degree, for instance, university graduates of administration are employed as an administrative offi cers while their counterpart from polytechnic as executive offi cers just to show that HND is inferior to bachelor’s degree, but if I may ask what is the title of the highest offi cer who occupied the highest offi ce in any organization?
Th e answer is “chief executive offi cer” (CEO), including the state governors who are also refer to as chief executive offi cers of their respective states, and to cap it all, the president of Nigeria is also referred to as CEO of the federation, instead of the “chief Administrative offi cer” that is reserved for only the bachelor’s degree holders. In conclusion, let me use this opportunity to extend my absolute gratitude and appreciation to the distinguish Senator Kabiru Marafa and others who supported him for their courage and determination towards challenging the injustice to humanity of Senator Ordia and his allies, in fact you did what is expected of you and we are proud of you. I must also salute the doggedness of the Customs CG Hameed Ali for abolishing the long existed dichotomy between the HND/bachelor’s degree that caused a lot of damage in the Nigerian Customs, with a hope that other organizations will follow suit for the overall interest of Nigeria/Nigerians. Umar Babale Zazzau, 08031586451
