HND Holders to Undergo Mandatory One-Year Training to Be at Par With Degree Holders- FG

The Federal Government has revealed that HND certificate holders within the civil service will undergo a mandatory one-year training programme in order to upgrade into the officer cadre of the service.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan,  made the revelation on Saturday while announcing various innovations currently being introduced in the federal civil service.

She noted that the curriculum of HND awarding institutions was different from those of the universities that award degrees and therefore, the former must undergo the training to be at par with degree holders in the service.

According to her, “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 on innovations being undertaken in the service, Dr. Yemi-Esan  said that the advent of technology and the rapidly changing work environment demands that civil servants pe up-to-date to be able to deliver and carry out government policies.

She disclosed that the current situation occasioned the adoption of a Performance Management System (PMS) by the Nigerian Civil Service. According to her, PMS Policy and Guidelines have been developed and circulated to all Ministries, extra-ministerial Departments and Agencies.

She further revealed that the core teams for the implementation of the PMS and other innovative policies  have been duly constituted across the service.

The issue of HND/degree dichotomy has been one of the most controversial within the service  with the National Assembly passing a bill to bring the two educational qualifications at par. President Muhammadu Buhari, however, declined assent to the bill.

There have been series of engagements between the National Universities Commission and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) the two bodies that regulate the award of degrees and HND certificates respectively.

Elaborating on the changes within the civil service, the Head of Service of the Federation said:

“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.

“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 MDA

“By implication, each officer across the Service can clearly link his goals and objectives with those of his department, those of the respective Ministry and the national KPIs.

She explained that the digitalisation of work processes in the Service is another reference point in the ongoing transformation of the Federal Civil Service.

She further stated that the her Office has fully digitalised all personal and policy files and is implementing digital transaction workflow processes, as all official correspondences, in the form of memos and internal and external circulars, are now being processed electronically through the Enterprise Content Management solution