Samuel Awoyinfa, Abeokuta
The Rector of the Ogun State-owned D.S Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Itori, in the Ewekoro area of the state, Dr. Alfred Fatade, has called on the Federal Government to put an end to the discrimination against holders of the Higher National Diploma in the country, by releasing the White Paper on the BSc/HND dichotomy.
Fatade made this call on Monday, while fielding questions from journalists during a briefing on activities lined up for the first-ever combined convocation ceremony of the institution and 10th year anniversary of the institution.
The rector noted that it was high time the discrimination was removed to enhance technological development in the country.
While he frowned on the craze for paper qualifications, Fatade advised that emphasis should be on skill acquistion and development.
He said, “Efforts were made by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and it proclaimed the end to the dichotomy. But lack of White Paper frustrated the pronouncement, while a similar proclamation made by President Muhammadu Buhari this year has yet to be implemented.
“Until that is done, the discrimination will continue.”
Fatade, however, urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, release the White Paper on the HND/BSc dichotomy for proper implementation.
The rector said that the first convocation ceremony of the school since inception in 2006 would come up on Saturday, with 3,874 graduating in OND programmes in seven different courses.
Fatade said the officials of the National Board for Technical Education, Kaduna, would be visiting the institution between December 14 and 17, in connection with the accreditation of six HND courses and six new OND courses.
He said the institution had approval for the implementation of promotion for the backlog of staff from 2010 to 2016.
He, therefore, said that the polytechnic was ready to offer courses in multimedia technology and forensic accounting, if eventually given approval by the NBTE.
