ABUJA — In a sweeping policy shift aimed at sanitizing Nigeria’s technical education landscape, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has announced that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) will henceforth take full control of all Higher National Diploma (HND) admissions across polytechnics nationwide.
Tripod Times reports that the directive, which takes effect immediately, permanently strips individual polytechnics of the power to independently market, process, or sell direct HND application forms.
The decision follows approvals by the Minister of Education to curb a historic crisis of “compromised and illegal admissions” that has left thousands of graduates stranded. For years, polytechnics admitted candidates outside central processing networks, resulting in widespread data mismatches that regularly prevented HND graduates from being mobilized for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
By routing everything through a centralized, digital system managed by JAMB, the regulatory body vows that full transparency will be restored.
Under the rigorous new structure, institutions are forbidden from exceeding the carrying capacities or admitting students into unaccredited programs.
In a circular signed by the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Professor Idris Bugaje, the board explicitly warned that any rector or provost who violates these centralized guidelines will face immediate administrative sanctions, up to and including the outright withdrawal of their institution’s operational license.
Furthermore, the new policy strictly addresses academic criteria, reinforcing that National Certificate in Education (NCE) holders can only access HND tracks via direct JAMB channels provided they possess a valid National Diploma (ND).
To ease transitional anxieties, the Minister of Education has graciously approved a waiver to clear outstanding cases of legally admitted ND part-time and HND full-time students caught in previous bottlenecks, ensuring their imminent NYSC mobilization.
