Benue — Benue State Education Commissioner, Dr. Eugene Aliegba was until his appointment, a lecturer at the State University (BSU).

He also participated in drafting "Our Benue, Our future," the blueprint being used by the present administration in the state. In this interview with correspondent GODWIN AKOR, Dr. Aliegba speaks on a wide range of issues including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, BSU, among others. Excerpt...

Why is ASUU strike becoming a regular feature?

It is due to the fragile nature of the economy. The cost of living is high and there is uncertainty about survival/existence. In addition, there is the problem of social security. I was in Kenya for a programme and immediately I got there, I was insured for N1 Million. If I had medical problem, I only needed to go to the best hospital in that place.

Nigeria has money to cater for these things if only our leaders will have the will. If there is no political will, there will be demand for increase in wages. In New York, it is more expensive to own and maintain a car than using public transport because of the costs involved. Where the economy is stable, there is no problem. In South Africa, there is restiveness but not in the education sector.

What is the way out of frequent strke?

Since 1992, ASUU strike has been about salary, increase in the funding of education, and clamour for the review of agreement due to uncertainty. If government can yearly make provision to attend to these things, and funds are released so that basic demands can be met, some of the problems will reduce.

There is always the suspicion that government will not be honest, so, we need honesty. Government should know that inflation affects many things including cost of living.

It is on the side of government to have social responsibility- attend to education and other services. National leadership should be considerate and service oriented. In this way, suspicion will go away.

For the academic staff, there should be some level of understanding when government becomes committed . There is need for both sides to be complimentary. The union should always be negotiating, not to create a situation where government will think that its legitimacy is being threatened. Some past governments read political meanings to ASUU strikes.

How do you hope to turn around the fortunes of the university where you were formerly a teacher?

I am a young man who has traveled wide. I have seen what a university should be by way of programmes and standard. With a governor that has also traveled widely, we intend to have a university that can compete favourably with others and excel.

Government's decisions will be sorted out not just pronouncements. The visitation panel recently constituted for the Benue State University has the responsibility of looking into the activities of the university in the last 10 years.

It is normal that in five to 10 years, the visitor sets up such panels to look into the application of money, generation of resources, achievement of targets and the performance of principal officers. You know that different vice chancellors have headed the institution in the past 10 years.

There is a new administration that is going to pump a lot of money into the institution. We met on the ground, a national ASUU strike which the council felt unhappy with, so, it went to court. The court said it was wrong for the staff to have participated in the strike because there was no conflict between them and the authorities.

After that, His excellency said the matter should be sorted out amicably, the court verdict notwithstanding. With this, the teachers went back to work but one or two things came out of the problem. This is why the panel will also assess the council.

Government will know from the panel's report if there are problems or none so that it will have focus.

Place of science education in state?

What we have is so inadequate, it cannot meet our target, The study of science is the development of the teaching of science which is weak.

The collapse of the boarding system in the secondary schools gave rise to emphasis on the mass production of secondary school leavers and not quality.

We have many schools but the facilities are inadequate. There is no priority for science education. There are no good laboratories.

Our plan is that in four years, we will have two science secondary schools in each of the senatorial districts. We will also make certain category of secondary schools models. In this way, science education will improve. We have a medical school, so, we need to produce science oriented students who will fit in.

What is the main problem facing education in the state?

The problem is management but the present governor has a dream on the kind of primary and secondary schools that he wants. He intends to computerize education at these levels as contained in the blue print, "Our Benue, Our Future".

He is giving us the direction and the leadership. In the past, there could be funds that were not used well. Most of the problems will be solved because the governor has a clear vision.

As soon as he assumed office, he paid N400 million counterpart fund for the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme. Consequent upon this, we now have N1.2 billion to develop primary education in the state.