NBTE suspends new polytechnic service schemes after backlash

The National Board for Technical Education clarified on Monday that the new schemes of service approved by the Federal Government are meant for federal polytechnics and not state-owned polytechnics.

The Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, clarified this at a press conference held at the Board’s headquarters in Kaduna.

Bugaje also announced the suspension of the “contentious” new schemes of service to give room for further input from stakeholders in the nation’s polytechnic sector.

NBTE unveiled new schemes of service on June 19, 2024, as approved by the Federal Government for Nigerian polytechnics, with effect from June 7, 2024.

The NBTE boss had told the gathering that the new schemes of service were a unified approach to the recruitment and promotion of staff across polytechnics in Nigeria.

However, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics kicked against it, alleging that the new schemes of service lacked inclusive stakeholder input, particularly from their union and stakeholders in the polytechnic sector.

Against this backdrop, the aggrieved lecturers gave a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, effective July 8, 2024, to suspend the implementation of the new scheme of work or face diverse forms of industrial action by the union.

But the NBTE boss insisted that the schemes of service were for federal government-owned polytechnics and not for state polytechnics, as perceived by the union.

He, however, explained that there would be no negotiation in areas where the new schemes of service recognised “HND holders for the first time as Graduate Assistants like their university counterparts” as well as those that “require “principals and chief lecturers to have doctorate degrees (Ph.D.).”

Bugaje said, “The NBTE has noted the appeal made by the Federal Polytechnics Academic Staff Union (FEPASU) and wishes to say that the Schemes of Service are strictly for the Federal Polytechnics that they represent.

“Federal polytechnics have ownership and governance peculiarities that make them different from state polytechnics.

“And more importantly, education is on the concurrent list in our Constitution, and NBTE cannot therefore impose the new Scheme of Service (after its final validation) on any state polytechnic.

“As such, ASUP should be reduced to where they belong, the state polytechnics and the new scheme is not for them. All our accreditations in state polytechnics shall henceforth be strictly on academic programmes only to ensure standards are maintained.”

As a way of averting the impending industrial action by polytechnic lecturers, Bugaje said the board had officially written the Head of Service on the need to review the scheme before its implementation.

He warned that the government would invoke the “no work, no pay” policy should the lecturers embark on a strike.

“We have written to the Head of Service over grey areas on the new scheme of work, and I’m confident she’s going to respond. We are going to suspend the implementation of the new scheme of service until issues are resolved,” he said.

He urged stakeholders to calm down as the 2024 schemes of service would be reviewed, noting, however, that there “are areas that won’t be compromised.”

“But the argument made by ASUP where people are trying to run away doing their doctorate degrees would not be acceptable,” he added.