By Utibe Ekoson
Federal Government has directed polytechnics, monotechnics and other allied institutions to stop awarding degrees.
The National Board for Technical Education conveyed the government’s decision to heads of the affected institutions in a circular dated December 1, 2022.
A copy of the document signed by the board’s Director, Polytechnic Programmes Department, Ogoh Ngbede, was obtained by newsmen yesterday.
Ngbede, in the circular, expressed the Federal Ministry of Education’s dismay at the increasing number of tertiary institutions in the country offering programmes for which they were not originally designed.
He however said the government has given the affected institutions four years to graduate the last set of students already admitted for such programmes.
Report has it that the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has over time called on the government to allow polytechnics to award degrees.
The union’s National President, Anderson Ezeibe, noted that the award of degrees by polytechnics would end the current dichotomy.According to him, the Nigerian polytechnic system has all it takes in terms of infrastructure and human capital to award Bachelor, Master’s and Doctorate degrees in the area of technology.
