Greater rationality in concept and discourse is required in the Federal Government’s plan to grant polytechnics in the country the authority to award degrees, as a solution to what has been termed the dichotomy between university degrees and the Higher National Diploma (HND) awarded by polytechnics.

What seems to be driving the plan is mainly the desire to meet the demand of polytechnic graduates who have been alleging discrimination against them in workplaces, particularly by not allowing them to enjoy some privileges like university degree holders. But is it really discrimination? It is reasonable to say that the perceived structural inequality between the two certificates is a product of the different rationale for establishment of the institutions, the admission process and requirements, the standards of teaching and learning, and the different levels and status assigned to each by the establishing law, from day one? At all times, achieving the set vision for national development must take precedence over emotion and instincts. While it is not a bad idea to close the gap between degrees and HND, there are ways it can and should be done to prevent degrees awarded by higher schools in Nigeria from suffering further denigration.

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, who announced the move to end the long-standing dichotomy by granting polytechnics the authority to award degrees at a retreat in Abuja, described it as a reform designed to strengthen technical and vocational education as a key catalyst for national development.

At the gathering of chairmen of governing councils, commissioners for education, rectors, registrars and bursars, Alausa said the initiative was a historic policy shift meant to bring an end to long years of discrimination against polytechnic graduates and reposition the polytechnics as centres of excellence in Nigeria’s education landscape.

He emphasised that the reform would retain the practical, industry-oriented focus of polytechnic education, noting that Nigeria’s long-term competitiveness hinges on a workforce capable of creating, building, and addressing real-life challenges. The minister did not forget to tell the stakeholders that the policy aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, which emphasises employment generation, industrial expansion, and human capital development.

There is no doubt that polytechnic graduates, like other graduates, play a remarkable role in national development, but the structural inequality in certificates should not be seen or portrayed as deliberate. It was dictated by each institution’s mandate and official recognition of its status and products, not by deliberate discrimination, as Alausa’s comment suggests.

While the universities in Nigeria are established primarily to produce high-level indigenous manpower to replace colonial administrators, accelerate socio-economic development and address the acute shortage (at the time) of high-level skilled professionals, including lawyers, doctors, engineers and teachers; polytechnics were established to train middle-level manpower, including technologists and technicians, to bridge the gap between high-level experts and low-level workers, mostly artisans.

This is most probably the reason a higher status and level were officially granted to university graduates. Besides, the practice of credentialism has, right from time, made the Nigerian state and the people to see university graduates as higher in rank and respect than HND holders. This belief was taken to the civil service, to the extent that polytechnic graduates cannot rise above level 14, unlike degree holders, who enjoy the opportunity to reach level 17.

But this is a policy matter the government can address without turning all polytechnics in Nigeria into degree-awarding institutions, if it is sufficiently convinced that both certificates should be treated equally in the workplace going forward.

An option is for the government to simply remove or reduce restrictions on HNDs in workplaces, while the current blend of universities and polytechnics offering degree and HND certificates, which many professionals consider very good for the country, remains. The government should then begin to take practical steps to strengthen polytechnic education by reviewing the curriculum for focus on national expectations, upgrading the infrastructure and training equipment to those currently in use in technologically advanced countries, standardising the admission process and requirements, providing adequate fund for research and innovation, and building serious collaboration between the schools and industries that can bequeath to the students technical expertise that will earn better perception and more respect for the certificate.

The government should consider expanding the technical education landscape through polytechnics and ensuring they play a significant role in implementing the National Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) programme, which is about to begin across the country.  Alausa told Nigerians recently that the TVET, launched also under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu, had recorded over 13 million applications nationwide, and that 16,000 accredited centres were being equipped to implement the scheme in partnership with some leading industrial and manufacturing firms in the country. It is all about training in practical, industry-relevant competencies in the primary sectors such as manufacturing, construction, energy, automotive services, technology, and the digital economy, which fall under the mandate of the polytechnics.

Another option is to review the admission process and requirements that make it difficult for HND graduates to acquire a university degree and enjoy the privileges given to holders of university degrees in the civil service and other workplaces. There are universities of science and technology across the country, established by federal and state governments, to, at a higher level, do practically what polytechnics are also meant to do: train professionals with practical skills tailored for industry application and technical manpower necessary for development. Part of the mandate of the science and technology universities is to address the educational demand of applicants. HND holders who want a degree can do a programme to get it and be free from the perceived discrimination. This can be strongly encouraged instead of having all polytechnics award degrees to address the inequality between the two certificates.

And if the government insists on polytechnics awarding degrees, it must upgrade them to degree-awarding schools. Most of them, as they currently exist, are barely better than secondary schools, lacking basic and modern facilities and a relevant workforce to bequeath students the desired expertise across the various fields of study. Also, the curriculum must change. There should be no excuses for poor funding, and everything must be done to ensure that the degrees awarded are internationally competitive. The graduates must be able to solve real-life challenges. That is when the certificates can earn the desired respect and recognition locally and internationally.

Beyond these, the problem of dichotomy in the certificates of institutions of higher learning is a clear manifestation of a societal obsession with paper qualifications as a prelude to work or career advancement. This need not be, as pragmatised in developed communities. What should take precedence are not really certificates but skills applicable to the work situation, such that, with the necessary skill and the correct industry indoctrination, a candidate can rise to the pinnacle of his career, either in the public or the private sector, irrespective of the degree or certificate he or she holds.