Reacting to a recent presidential approval for the conversion of the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) Lagos to a university, the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) has opposed the proposed conversion. The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had during a recent working visit to the institution, announced that President Bola Tinubu has approved the conversion of the college into a university; and that the plans to complete the conversion process are in motion.

The minister said YABATECH was a legacy school fit for conversion because it had over 200 staff members holding doctorate degrees in various fields. Dr Alausa said the rector of the institution had told him that, ?The staff, students, and management of the college had been praying and fasting that it should be converted to a university.?

Speaking the following day on the pronouncement, the NAPS president, Eshiofune Oghayan, emphasised that the conversion would undermine the fundamental goals of polytechnic education. Oghayan argued that converting polytechnics into universities would erode their unique role and shift their focus towards theory-based learning rather than practical and industrial-based training which polytechnics were established for.

Oghayan further said, ?We reject the proposed conversion of YABATECH into a university. Polytechnic institutions like YABATECH play a crucial role in bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and industrial application as they emphasise hands-on experience, problem-solving, and innovation, which are essential for Nigeria?s industrialisation and economic diversification.? NAPS, therefore, appealed to President Tinubu to reconsider the decision to convert YABATECH into a university, vowing to mobilise polytechnic students across the country to resist the move.

YABATECH was established in 1947. It remains one of Nigeria?s oldest and most prestigious polytechnics. It has produced large numbers of highly skilled professionals who have contributed immensely to the development of technology, construction engineering, entrepreneurship, and the growth of industries in Nigeria.

It would be recalled that sometime in 2014, holders of the HND in the country filed a motion before the National Industrial Court in Abuja challenging their discrimination in career progression. One aspect of discrimination suffered by HND holders is denial of the right to rise beyond grade level 14 as against university graduates whose promotions extend to grade level 17; the peak of career in the public service.

If authorities at the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) had institutional memory, they would have reminded Mr President that Nigeria?s former Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, had after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of Wednesday December 12, 2018 announced the conversion of the country?s two most prominent polytechnics, YABATECH and Kaduna Polytechnic (KADPOLY) into universities and respectively renamed them as City University of Technology, Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna; a policy statement that did not go beyond pronouncement.

Government has consistently failed to understand that the solution to the crisis of career dichotomy is not in the conversion of a polytechnic to a university. Government?s failure to put the issue into proper perspective explains why attempts to address the problem with the scrapping of HND or upgrading of polytechnics to universities each failed as a solution.

Policymakers need to appreciate the fact that the two qualifications of HND and a university degree are products of separate academic programmes established for different purposes with different entry requirements and distinct curriculum contents. University and polytechnic programmes seek to achieve different objectives just as they have their separate briefs and mandates. This further suggests that products of the two institutions would be far from graduating with the same learning experiences and skills.

Polytechnics do not only boost and strengthen Nigeria?s workforce, but also drive the country?s pathway to industrialisation. Polytechnics still exist even in the developed world. Rather than kill polytechnics, Nigeria should remodel technical education and strengthen polytechnic education to produce a generation of hi-tech innovators, skilled professionals, and industrial ground-breakers. While the curriculum of HND programmes is fundamentally designed to produce the technical manpower required to support the economy, university degree programmes are more theoretical and research-oriented. Polytechnic graduates do not need bachelor?s degrees to function efficiently.

What makes the conversion of YABATECH to a university even more needless is the fact that some federal MDAs have since removed the career progression element that discriminates against HND holders. For example, the Ministry of Interior in September 2020 abolished the ranking and career disparity in its four para-military services ? the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Correctional Service, and the Federal Fire Service.

It is high time the government stopped dilly-dallying over this matter. It should be resolved once and for all by granting HND holders career progression rights that are equal in effect to those enjoyed by university graduates in the public service. This will not only halt the craze by polytechnic graduates for varsity degrees, but shall further render government?s resort to idealistic conversion of polytechnics into universities inconsequential. Don?t kill polytechnics, consolidate them. (Daily Trust Editorial)

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