The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, has announced that workers with Higher National Diploma (HND) must undergo a mandatory one-year training before their conversion from Executive to Officers cadre in the civil service. This move aims to bridge the gap between polytechnic-awarded HND and university degrees.
Yemi-Esan stated that the curriculum for HND and Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) holders are not the same, necessitating the additional training for HND graduates before their conversion.
The one-year mandatory training programme has been a controversial issue between the National Universities Commission and the National Board for Technical Education.
In 2021, a bill was passed by the Ninth National Assembly to end the dichotomy between HND and B.Sc holders in the civil service, but it was not signed into law by the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
As a result, the National Board for Technical Education introduced a one-year top-up programme for HND holders to level up and obtain a bachelor's degree.
The Head of the Civil Service emphasized the importance of accessible, inclusive, and high-quality education that remains relevant to the rapidly evolving demands of the modern world.
She highlighted the Nigerian Civil Service's efforts to enhance the capacity and capability of its workforce through learning and development, in line with the 2024 Civil Service Week theme.
Yemi-Esan also discussed the adoption of a Performance Management System in the Nigerian Civil Service, which aims to assess each officer's performance based on their respective Key Performance Indicators.
Additionally, she mentioned the ongoing digitalisation of work processes, including the digitalization of personal and policy files and the implementation of digital transaction workflow processes.
