A circular left Abuja on 9 September, and it quietly rewrote how HND admission works in Nigeria.
From this session, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board will handle Higher National Diploma admissions in every polytechnic in the country. Not the school. JAMB.
If you hold an ND, or you are close to finishing one, this is about you. Here is what the directive says, what nobody can tell you yet, and what to do while the details are still landing.
What the NBTE directive actually says
The National Board for Technical Education is the body that regulates polytechnics and technical education in Nigeria. On 9 September 2026 it issued a circular signed by its Executive Secretary, Professor Idris Bugaje, addressed to the rectors and provosts of the affected institutions.
The instruction inside it is short. All HND admissions, in all institutions, move to JAMB from this session. The stated reason is to run one central process and to stop what the circular calls “illegal and compromised admissions”.
The decision followed a meeting involving the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, together with JAMB, NYSC, NBTE and the Federal Ministry of Education. Nigerian Tribune reported the circular on 13 September, and the NBTE is expected to publish guidelines to back it up.
Who the new HND admission process covers
The new arrangement is wider than polytechnics alone. According to the circular, it covers:
- Polytechnics
- Allied institutions
- Colleges of nursing sciences
- Colleges of health technology
So if your HND plan sits in any of these institutions, your admission will now pass through JAMB rather than through the school alone.
Why the government is doing this
One word: NYSC.
For years, some institutions admitted HND students through their own side channels. The student paid, studied and graduated. Then NYSC mobilisation came, the records were checked, and the admission was nowhere in the official system. The graduate got stuck at the exact moment the certificate was supposed to start working.
We have written about that wall before. The NERD clearance rule already ties NYSC mobilisation to verified records, and university students went through their own version of this pain with admissions that were never uploaded to JAMB. Moving HND admission to one central system is an attempt to close that gap at the entry point, instead of catching people at the exit.
What nobody can tell you yet
This is the part that matters most right now, so read it slowly.
The circular announces the change, but it does not carry the details. The Federal Ministry of Education is expected to issue a statement with more information. NBTE also says it will develop HND admission guidelines and hand them to JAMB, to guide the digital platform that will run the process. Those guidelines are expected to cover the waiting period for ND holders before starting HND, and exemptions for some ND health-related programmes.
Until those documents are out, nobody knows the application steps. Nobody knows the fees. Nobody knows the dates. Anybody who claims to know them today is guessing, or selling something.
The scam window is open, so be careful
Every big admission change in Nigeria produces the same side effect: agents.
Expect messages offering to process your HND admission under the new system, register you before the portal opens, or secure a slot for a fee. None of that is possible today, because the platform they claim to work inside does not exist yet.
The rule is the one we keep repeating on this blog: never pay for an admission service you cannot verify on an official portal. Our guide on spotting fake payment portals applies here word for word. When the new process opens, JAMB and your institution will announce it. A stranger in your DM will not be the source.
What ND holders should do now
- Finish what is in front of you. Your ND result and your industrial training records are still the foundation of any HND application, under any system.
- Gather your documents in one place. Statement of result, transcript details, IT documentation and your JAMB profile details from your ND admission. Whatever shape the new process takes, it will be built on records, and people with scattered records suffer most during transitions.
- Follow only official sources. That means jamb.gov.ng, the NBTE website and your institution. Education blogs will carry confident details before the Ministry speaks. Treat those as rumours.
- Ask your admissions office before you assume anything. The circular takes effect from this session, so schools themselves are still working out the handover. If you are mid-application, your school remains the right place to ask what happens to it.
If you are still choosing your path
For anyone weighing routes after UTME, this directive is also a signal. The polytechnic route is moving onto the same central admission rails that universities already run on, which should make its certificates harder to question at NYSC and beyond. Our comparison of the polytechnic and university routes still holds, and if central admission systems confuse you, our plain guide to what each JAMB CAPS status means is the place to start.
The paperwork side is where we live
Delight Data Exploration has walked students through Nigerian admission systems for over a decade, from UTME to final clearance. If the HND admission change has left you unsure what your next step is, or you need help with the writing that comes after admission, talk to us. We will tell you plainly what is known, what is rumour, and what to do.