Some personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) who are Higher National Diploma (HND) holders have decried the disparity between them and their university degree holders colleagues.
The complainants under the aegis of Concerned HND Holders in NSCDC, therefore, urged the Federal Government to right the wrong.
They lamented that the discrimination had led to ill-treatment and a lack of career progression in the corps.
The affected personnel hinted that the disparity in the scheme of service had dampened their morale in the service.
The aggrieved NSCDC specifically alleged that the 2012 HND holders’ intakes were being discriminated against compared to their mates in other sister agencies in the same Ministry of Interior.
The group in its petition obtained by our correspondent said that: “HND holders were recruited into the NSCDC in the year 2012 as Inspector of Corps rank (Grade Level 07). The same year, on the same process, NCE holders were placed on GL 07 and BSc holders on GL 08.
“This was based on the conditions of service at that time, which was a bad indicator of suppressing some set of people instead of encouraging competency and proactiveness between HND holders and BSc, as is found in other sister agencies for effective service delivery because of how sensitive security responsibility is.
“We wrote the Confirmation and Promotion examination in the year 2014, with the BSc counterparts, being the statutory year to be confirmed, according to Public Service Rules.
“The BSc holders were advanced, but rather, in our case, we were not advanced neither properly placed nor promoted after passing the COMPRO exam, contrary to extant regulations.”
The group urged President Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, and all concerned to look into their matter and restore them to the right rank which reflects their years of service.
It added that in 2016, there was another replacement/recruitment exercise, and all officers recruited then as Assistant Superintendent of Corps II (ASCII) were all given automatic promotions to the next rank while all HND holders recruited in 2012 are still in stagnation as Inspectors of Corps. (Grade level 7) till 2018.
But in 2018, the Federal Government enforced the removal of the HND/BSc dichotomy, and this order was implemented in other sister paramilitary agencies under the Ministry of Interior since the year 2016. That, therefore, became a saving grace for HND 2012 intakes to progress to ASCII (Level 8) in 2018
“Majority of our BSc holders, counterparts, that we were recruited together in the year 2012, are now hanging the rank of Superintendent ( Eagle, i.e. GL 11), while up to 95% of us, HND holders of 2012 recruits, are painfully stagnated to one star( ASCII, GL 08) up till now i.e. year 2023!
“After being denied promotion exams for many years, 2022 made it the 4th consecutive year that we have been writing and passing promotion examinations, yet, without promotion!
“All other categories of personnel, including SSCE, NCE, and Trade test holders have been writing promotion exams, as at when due, except the holders of the HND 2012 intake who have been variously denied for several years!
“Some junior officers that were recruited in 2012 with CAIII, GL 03, (The least rank) who later got themselves enrolled in Part-time degree programs, were not only converted to the Senior rank but also inexplicably got promoted to two-star (ASCI, GL 09), thereby placing them above us that were recruited initially with HND Certificates in 2012!
“Since April 16, 2012 ( 11 years down the line), when we were nominally enlisted into NSCDC, the majority of us don’t know what a promotion letter looks like. Even the so-called 2016 Advancement, up till now, there is no letter issued to that effect!
“It has become an annual ritual in NSCDC that Officers from the junior cadre get converted into the Superintendent cadre, thereby creating an unnecessary and questionable shoot-up in the number of senior officers in the Corps, and also making promotion to the next rank extremely difficult, to the detriment of us that were recruited with HND certificate in 2012!
“Having removed the dichotomy, The NSCDC started upgrading both the holders of Bsc and HND of 2019 intakes together. Those who got recruited and trained in the year 2022 were decorated with one star. This means they will be hanging two stars as soon as their COMPRO results are considered, just like their colleagues in the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), are already in two stars. Without mincing words, this places us in an uncomfortable, unpalatable, and unacceptable position of having to be juniors to two batches of recruits after us (i.e. 2016 and 2019 intakes)!
“Our career stagnancy after 11 years of enlistment into the active service of NSCDC is unfair and unjust. There is no gainsaying this is alien to the Public Service Rule which stipulates that officers in our cadre should have a maximum of three years before they get promoted to the next rank. We shouldn’t be made to write another promotion exam this year again as we have been grossly shortchanged in the years back,” the petition added.