By: Comfort James
The president of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), Ridwan Opeyemi, today met with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) at JAMB Headquarters in Abuja to discuss the situation of polytechnic students in Nigeria who have been stopped from taking part in the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Mr Opeyemi appealed specifically on behalf of graduates of Higher National Diploma (HND) who have not been recognised for mobilisation by NYSC.
Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Mr Opeyemi said, “The Registrar took his time to discuss with us, and we now know where the problem lies, which is mostly from our various institutions.
“Professor Is-haq Oloyede, the Registrar of JAMB, briefed NAPS that JAMB was it is not the responsible of the board to admit HND students into their different polytechnics and that the board has no data to regularise their mobilisation for NYSC.
The JAMB boss noted that “You are wasting your time talking to someone who has no involvement in the matter. If something affects you, the first step is to identify the root cause so that you don’t apply the wrong solution to a problem that does not exist.”
“We admit students for ND programmes. Once you graduate and seek HND admission, JAMB has no further role. HND admissions are conducted by individual institutions,” he said.
While Mr Opeyemi appealed that JAMB should address the matter, Professor Oloyede suggested that the best thing to do was for NAPS to meet with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and seek solutions to the issue.
