The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has attributed the delay in the mobilisation of polytechnic graduates for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme to non-compliance by some tertiary institutions with academic guidelines.
The development has left many Higher National Diploma (HND) graduates across the country stranded for months and, in some cases, years after completing their programmes.
Affected graduates had earlier blamed the delay on administrative bottlenecks within their institutions and limited mobilisation quotas under the scheme.
However, the NBTE maintained that the delays are largely caused by institutions’ failure to adhere to established academic procedures and poor documentation of students’ records.
The Executive Secretary of NBTE, Idris Bugaje, disclosed this through the board’s NYSC Desk Officer, Dauda Baba-Halal.
He explained that some institutions fail to enforce the mandatory one-year Industrial Training required after the National Diploma (ND) before admission into the Higher National Diploma (HND) programme.
Bugaje stated that the policy requiring Industrial Training has long been in place but is often violated by institutions that admit students into HND programmes immediately after completing their ND.
He noted that such violations create challenges during verification and affect the eligibility of graduates for mobilisation into the NYSC scheme.
He further explained that any student who proceeds to HND without completing the required Industrial Training would not be mobilised for NYSC due to incomplete academic progression.
The NBTE, he said, has strengthened its verification process through its HND admission portal to ensure compliance with the approved academic sequence.
He added that the portal serves as a national database for HND admissions, requiring institutions to upload students’ records for proper verification of their academic history.
Bugaje clarified that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is only responsible for admissions into the National Diploma programme and has no role in NYSC mobilisation.
He advised institutions facing mobilisation challenges to formally report such issues to the NBTE or NYSC for resolution.
He emphasized that the NBTE’s role is regulatory and focused on ensuring that only qualified graduates from accredited programmes are mobilised for national service.
He added that only graduates from NBTE-accredited programmes are eligible for mobilisation into the NYSC scheme.
