HND holders to undergo 1-year top-up training in civil service

HND holders to undergo 1-year top-up training in civil service

Story by Onuoha Sussan

The Federal government has announced its new policy requiring HND holders to undergo a mandatory one-year training within the Nigerian Civil Service.

Speaking on this development, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, advised workers with Higher National Diplomas (HND) to complete the mandatory training before their conversion from the Executive to Officers cadre.

According to Yemi-Esan in a virtual meeting on Saturday, to commemorate the 2024 Civil Service Week with the theme, “Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased Access to Inclusive, Life-long, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa,” the one-year mandatory training program aims to bridge the gap between polytechnic-awarded Higher National Diplomas and university degrees.

This has been a point of contention between the National Universities Commission and the National Board for Technical Education.

With the bill to end the dichotomy between HND and degree not signed into law by Buhari, the discrimination has continued to exist.

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Thus, NBTE, which regulates technical and vocational education, introduced what it describes as a one-year top-up program offering a platform for HND holders to level up towards obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

While fielding a question from one of the civil servants during the virtual meeting, Yemi-Esan said, “The curriculum for HND and B.Sc holders were not the same, hence, HND graduates would have to undergo mandatory one-year training before conversion from Executive to Officers’ cadre.”

Speaking further, she emphasized the need for education to be inclusive, accessible, and of high quality, while asserting the need for it to constantly remain relevant to the rapidly evolving demands of the modern world.

According to her, “The theme also speaks to how the Nigerian Civil Service is leveraging learning and development to enhance the capacity and capability of its workforce with a view to delivering on national priorities.”

The Head of the Civil Service, while elaborating on the Performance Management System (PMS) and how it can be leveraged for service delivery, explained that concerns about adapting to the rapidly evolving work environment necessitated the launch of the system in the service.

According to her, “PMS implementation has been cascaded to the Ministries, with the Permanent Secretaries serving as the primary drivers.

“In this regard, performance contracts are to be further cascaded down to the last officer in each MDA.

“This new system will assess each officer’s performance solely based on their respective Key Performance Indicators and it will enable tracking of job objectives across all MDAs.”