KADUNA, KADUNA STATE– The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has moved the blame for the postponed mobilization of Higher National Diploma (HND) graduates for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) onto polytechnics and other technical institutions.
The board revealed that lots of graduates stay “stranded” for months or years due to administrative failures and flagrant infractions of recognized academic development policies.
The Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, speaking through the board’s NYSC Desk Officer, Dauda Baba‑Halal, on Sunday, March 15, 2026, mentioned that the main traffic jam is the failure of institutions to impose necessary pre-HND requirements.
A main problem identified by the NBTE is the offense of the obligatory one-year Industrial Training (IT) policy. According to the board, lots of institutions have actually been confessing trainees into HND programs immediately after their National Diploma (ND) without guaranteeing they finish the required year of industry experience.
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“If a student proceeds to HND without completing the mandatory 1 year Industrial Training, the NYSC will not mobilize that student since the scholastic development is insufficient,” Bugaje cautioned.
He noted that while the policy is enduring, some organizations bypass it to increase enrollment, developing a verification crisis at the point of graduation.
To curb these abnormalities, the NBTE has actually reinforced its oversight through the HND Admission Website. This nationwide database tracks trainee records and scholastic history to ensure that every prospect submitted for NYSC mobilization has followed the legal sequence.
Prof. Bugaje also attended to typical misunderstandings relating to the functions of different bodies. He clarified that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is solely responsible for admissions into the National Diploma (ND) level and plays no role in the mobilization of HND graduates.
The duty for HND oversight and NYSC clearance rests entirely on the synergy between the polytechnics, the NBTE (as the regulator), and the NYSC (as the plan operator).
The NBTE boss urged institutions facing mobilization difficulties to stop blaming administrative “bottlenecks” at the national level and instead fix their internal documentation.
He recommended that organizations need to formally communicate any distinct difficulties to the NBTE or NYSC for resolution, instead of leaving graduates in a state of expert limbo.
The board declared that only finishes from accredited programs who have successfully gone through the verified HND Admission Website will be considered eligible for the nationwide service plan moving on.