Hammed Shittu in Ilorin.
The Protem National President, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, Worldwide Alumni Association, Engineer Abu Salami at the weekend expressed concern over the endless debate on whether or not to abolish the Degree/HND dichotomy in the employment and renumeration opportunities in the country.
Salami who spoke in Ilorin during the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the institution said that, “It is needless since the University and polytechnic system have their separate reasons for being created”.
The Polytechnic was established in 1973 by the former military governor of the state, Late Brig. General David Lasisi Bamigboye(rtd).
Since then, the institution has been waxing stronger in academic excellence to the people of the state and other parts of the country.
Salami however said , “We have been at this for so many years and I don’t see any need for it”.
The Alumni President who holds doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering said that, “I know that the Nigerian Society of Engineers have officially made it clear to government that HND must be equal to BSc.
“But you find out that at the end of the day if you want everybody to be equal, you find that the reason for setting up the university is different from the reasons for setting up a polytechnic”.
“We have to be realistic. I was born and raised in Ghana. There, the university is where we get our HND.
“The best you can get in Ghana in polytechnic is City and Guilds. You have City and Guilds 1, 2, 3 which is the final.
“If you want HND, you go to the University. But because here in Nigeria, we have more than enough, so you have the dichotomy.
“Everybody wants to be this or that and so I don’t see any problem in those sets of certificates.
“I am a HND holder. But I went to University of Ilorin to have my Masters there. So if you want to go higher, nothing stops you just as long as you are good. For me each of the institutions should stand for what they were created for”.
Salami also used the event to call on well meaning Nigerians, individuals and corporate bodies to support the government in the task of moving education forward in the country.
He said that, “the education sector deserves support and the only way to do is to support the government in its efforts at moving the sector forward”.
He opined that, “some of the nation’s tertiary institutions have a lot of infrastructure defects and the government cannot fix all these at the same time couples with other pressing demands of the people and the well meaning Nigerians, alumni association and corporate bodies must be at the front to support the government in the task of achieving the goal”.
He also extolled Kwara Poly alumni association saying that it remains untainted by any partisanship or efforts at indigenizing it.
“We don’t practice that with Kwara Alumni. I am from Ogbomoso, I am not from Kwara State. But I am the Protem President.
“What we did in our own case is to look at it from a periodic point of view. Say from 1973-83, we have their representative, we don’t want to know where they are from, for as long as you give us your representatives.
“The indigenes of Ilorin have never interfered in how we run our affairs,” he said.
