Two sets of Banking and Finance graduates at D.S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Itori, Ogun State, cannot proceed with their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme because their course has not been accredited.

Adding to the frustration of these graduates, the school authorities keep urging them to be patient while telling them that “delay is not denial”.

FIJ learnt that the School of Management Sciences has churned out two affected sets of Higher National Diploma (HND) graduates from the Banking and Finance Department. The first set graduated in September 2023 while the second set graduated last September.

The students told FIJ that they had no inkling that the course had not been accredited when they were offered admission. They only started hearing rumours in their final year, but they could not substantiate it.

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For many of them, their parents think they were either sent away from the school without completing their HND or lied about gaining admission in the first place.

‘ARE OUR RESULTS USELESS?’

Since the HND programme has not been accredited, the graduates have genuine concerns about the validity of their results. Many of them have not requested their results because of the doubts in their minds.

“We don’t know what is going on, and it seems the school is not honest with us. We have not started clearance at all, and for those who have got their results, it’s as good as useless,” one of the affected HND graduates told FIJ.

“Also, I feel it should not even happen in any school that students will be enrolled for a course that has not been approved. It was in HND 2, after they took in a new set, that we started hearing rumours that the banking and finance course had not been accredited. It’s not as if there was an official statement from the school.

“When we finished our programme and we were waiting for NYSC mobilisation, the school was just telling us stories. We were even on a WhatsApp group with the Head of Department (HOD) as admin. When everyone was complaining about the issue, the HOD locked the group.”

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WHO IS TO BLAME? NBTE OR D.S. ADEGBENRO POLY?

The HND graduates told FIJ that the department’s National Diploma (ND) programme was only accredited by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in 2023.

The NBTE is a Federal Ministry of Education unit responsible for regulating and accrediting Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, such as polytechnics.

When FIJ checked the list of NBTE-accredited courses for the HND programme on the NYSC portal, only nine were found for D.S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic.

The nine courses included Accountancy, Business Administration and Management, Computer Engineering Technology, Computer Science, Electric/Electronics Eng. Tech. (Electronics and Telecom), Marketing, Public Administration, S.L.T (MICROBIOLOGY) and Statistics.

Banking and Finance was not on the list of accredited courses.

Sources familiar with the matter disclosed that the school held a meeting with the affected graduates in July 2024. But before then, the department adviser of the polytechnic had told them to “calm down”.

“After we kept complaining on the WhatsApp group, the department adviser addressed us politely and said we should have more patience because the management was working on the matter,” an affected graduate told FIJ.

“A few weeks later, we got a message in that group, saying we should all make our way to the school premises.”

FIJ gathered that many of the Banking and Finance graduates went to the school for the meeting, hoping to hear some good news from the management. When they got there, they were only further encouraged to exercise more patience.

“They said they knew how frustrated we were and what we were going through. That was when we were informed that the issue was no longer from the management but from NBTE,” the affected graduate narrated.

“They told us that the board said it would take three years before we could proceed to the next level, which is what’s affecting us now. Out of the three years, we have used two, leaving one year, which is next year.”

While speaking with FIJ, they expressed doubt about the claims by the school and the likelihood of proceeding with NYSC in 2025. Many of them feel the issue will not be sorted out in the coming year.

Meanwhile, when FIJ checked the NBTE website on Monday afternoon, we found 14 approved ND and HND programmes for D.S. ICT Polytechnic.

Further checks showed that 11 of the programmes had full accreditation, while the remaining three only had “approval to commence”. Also, while eight programmes showed active status, six had expired between 2020 and 2022.

None of the 14 programmes included Banking and Finance both at the ND and HND levels. This means the course has not been accredited, according to the information on the NBTE website.

When FIJ called the D.S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic via the phone number on its website on Friday afternoon, the male voice that answered the call asked for an email, which would be forwarded to the appropriate quarters.

FIJ sent a media inquiry via the email address on the polytechnic’s website at exactly 3:17 pm on Friday, but no response has been received at press time.

On the other hand, NBTE could not be reached via the two numbers on its website. When FIJ dialled the first line, an automated voice said, “This number does not exist.” The second line was switched off.