House of Reps passes bill ending HND/BSC discrimination

In the bid to end the longtime discrimination against HND holders in the country, the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to eliminate the dichotomy between the Higher National Diploma and Bachelor of Science holders.

The “bill for an act to abolish and prohibit dichotomy and discrimination between first degrees and HND in the same profession” which was sponsored by Ali Isa and Edward Pwajok from Gombe and Plateau states respectively, had been passed for second reading since April 2017.

It was purposely to end the discrimination against the HND holders in the public service and equate them with their counterparts from universities.

Pwajok had said the “discrimination” against the polytechnic graduates “had no moral justification”, adding that it would make the international community disregard educational institutions in the country.

The lawmaker had condemned the manner at which the HND graduates are facing “a lot of segregation” in the labour market. He said, “those with a first degree are placed on grade level 8, while those with HND are placed on grade level 6 or 7.”

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He had also said the discrimination reflects in salaries as some organisations pay degree holders N100,000 at entry level, while their counterparts with HND get N70,000.

Recall that recently, the federal government eradicated the dichotomy between the two class of degree holders in the services under the ministry of interior.

The agencies are the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) and Federal Fire Service (FFS).

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