Higher National Diploma (HND) graduates from the Bill and Melinda College of Health Technology, Ningi, Bauchi State, have cried out over their prolonged exclusion from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
The graduates appeal to the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, to address what they said has lingered for more than a year due to unresolved administrative and accreditation challenges.
In an open letter addressed to the governor dated June 25, 2025, the affected graduates appealed for urgent intervention to resolve the bureaucratic setbacks delaying their mobilization for national service.
According to them, despite completing their academic programmes and fulfilling all graduation requirements, they are yet to be mobilized due to issues surrounding accreditation by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
“These bottlenecks have not only disrupted our professional advancement but have caused us great emotional and financial distress,” the letter reads.
The graduates noted that several efforts to engage relevant authorities—including the management of the college, the State Ministry of Health, the State House of Assembly, and the Office of the Deputy Governor—have yielded no result.
They expressed concern that the delay is costing them valuable opportunities for employment, postgraduate studies, and their statutory national service.
“Some of us have even missed job offers that require NYSC discharge certificates,” they said.
The letter urged Governor Mohammed to intervene personally to resolve the NBTE and JAMB-related accreditation issues and facilitate NYSC mobilization for all eligible graduates, as well as institute reforms within the college to prevent future failures.
The graduates appealed to the governor and expressed confidence that he would act to protect the future of trained health professionals crucial to the state’s primary healthcare system.
“We are hopeful and confident that your esteemed office will not allow the future of hundreds of trained health professionals—who are critical to the well-being of our communities—to be jeopardized any further,” the letter concluded.
College Reacts, Says Working to Resolve the Challenges
Meanwhile, the Provost of the College, Dr. Yakubu Gida Abdullahi, attributed the challenge to failure of the previous leadership in the Collage to build on the 2019 interim accreditation from NBTE which ought to been consolidated with full accreditation within a year.
Dr. Abdullahi further alleged that some unscrupulous individuals exploited students by collecting unauthorized payments under the pretense of facilitating NYSC mobilization through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with other institutions.
He noted that the College has not sanctioned such MoU arrangement, maintaining that it was illegal and not recognized by NYSC.
He said the current administration has since terminated such illicit arrangements.
However, WikkiTimes findings revealed that the College, has previously engaged in “such illicit arrangements” with the College of Health Science Technology, Kaltungo, Gombe State, to enroll its graduates to participate in the one-year mandatory NYSC scheme.
According to an internal memo dated October 5, 2022, the College notified its then graduate awaiting for NYSC mobilization that they would be enrolled through the Gombe institution.
WikkiTimes learnt that the College, which started HND programme in 2007, has not mobilized its graduates through legitimate means for the mandatory NYSC scheme. But many sets of graduates had passed through the NYSC through such arrangements.
