HND graduates don't have necessary qualification to be licensed architects - ARCON president
- The president of the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has opened up on why HND holders are excluded from the council
- The president said HND holders in architecture are exempted from ARCON registration as a result of not having enough qualifications to be licensed
- According to the council president, all HND graduates are recognized as technicians
Oladipupo Gabriel Ajayi, the president, Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), has revealed that Higher National Diploma (HND) holders in architecture were excluded from registration by the council due to educational qualifications.
Ajayi who revealed this during an interview at his 66th birthday in Lagos, said people believe HND graduates do not have enough educational qualifications to be licensed as architects in Nigeria.
He further explained that HND holders need to return to school and upgrade themselves to the executive line.
He said: “In Nigeria today, we have two ways – technical line and executive. Abroad, when you go to university, that is the executive line, when you go to technical school, that is the technical line.
Source: UGC
“By the law establishing us, we are not competent to induct and license HND graduates as architects. ARCON is not a degree-awarding school, we are a regulator of the profession. For the HND graduates, they need to return to school, upgrade themselves to the executive line.”
The ARCON president went on to note that the council has held a lot of meetings with HND graduates through their associations and convinced some of them and they withdrew their cases from court.
Nonetheless, Ajayi noted that all HND holders who are graduates are recognized but just as technicians. He also added that those who stay on are inducted on the level of technicians.
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Legit.ng previously reported that the bill that will alter the qualifications of political leaders - National and states Assembly, the office of the president and governors in Nigeria - has passed second reading in the senate.
The bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to provide for the amendment of Sections 65 (2) (a), 131 (d), Section 106 (c) and Section 177 (d) therein, to provide for minimum qualification for election into the National and States Assembly, Office of the president and governors, and other related matters, 2020” was sponsored by Senator Istifanus Gyang (Plateau North).
According to the bill, anybody seeking the position of Nigerian president must have been educated up to at least HND level or’ its equivalent.”
In a related development, Wilfred Asuquo, a Nigerian living in the US, has narrated how he was able to break the stigma that is commonly associated with Higher National Diploma (HND).
He said that he was able to graduate with an amazing 3.30/4.0 CGPA despite the fact that many took him for an unserious student because he was into school politics.
Asuquo said he had to go to a polytechnic because he could not afford the financial cost of attending a university, and not that he couldn’t get admission into one.
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Source: Legit.ng
