Aregbesola Denies HND Holders Recruitment Into Civil Service

The government of the state of Osun yesterday conducted civil service recruitment test for applicants into the state civil service. The test which reports say was as good as it gets pundits say was a commendable exercise from the state government who is planning to recruit hundreds into the state civil service to replace the retiring civil servants at the end of the year.

Over ten thousand applicants, reports say obtained the recruitment form, but only 6,000 were considered to write the test. It was learnt that the number was reduced to 6,000 as only applicants with a university degree and holders of Higher National Diploma, HND with additional qualifications like PGD, ACA, etc. were considered, while holders of NCE, OND, and HND without additional qualifications were not considered.

The National Association of Technologists in Engineering, NATE, had been advocating for the government to put both university degree and HND on the same level, but it seems their efforts at stopping the disparity will continue to be frustrated by some people.

No one would expect someone like Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to allow such policy in a state he governs, having graduated from The Polytechnic, Ibadan himself.

When asked why the government employed the policy in reducing the number of applicants who sat for the recruitment test, Governor Aregbesola reports say drifted away from the question to other things.

Some have suggested in the past that government should scrap polytechnic education if the graduates of the institution who have spent the same number of years spent by university graduates, and who usually are more technically sound than university graduates would not be regarded the same way university graduates are regarded. What the government will do about this, and how insistent NATE would be till they achieve what they want remains to be seen.