Those who left PDP for APC will soon return — Senator

Anosike

In this interview with JOHN ALECHENU, Chairman of the Board of Federal Colleges of Education, Senator Emma Anosike, speaks about state governors retiring to the Senate, 2015 general elections and crisis in the education sector

Virtually all the governors, who are completing their tenures, appear interested in going to the Senate. Do you see this as adding value to the business of legislation?

How many of those former governors are doing well in the parliament today? They should ask themselves what they are coming to do. They have completed what  they came to do in the system. They just want to come to the National Assembly to seek protection. ‘Let us just go there and answer

(the title of) Senators.’ What else are they looking for? How many of the grassroots people can assess them as senators, after serving as governors for eight years? Because they have money and machinery, they (think they can) buy their ways to the Senate that is all.

What will the Senate look like with this class of politicians coming in?

There is going to be confusion. At a point, everybody will start looking at his purse. They will have Senators-Governors Forum as one group, political party Senators Forum as another group. They are not coming to work for their people. They have been in power for years without doing anything, then, when they come to the parliament, they will start agitating for projects in their states, thereby  creating confusion. The parliament is where you go to fight for a piece of cake that will come to your state or constituency.

Meanwhile, if you have had that cake, carried it on your head for eight years without giving to your brothers and  sisters and tomorrow, you are fighting for projects. The question is: why didn’t you do it when you were there?

The bottom line for most of them is just to protect themselves. But the system is changing. I don’t know for how long the system will protect them because things are changing. In 2015, you will see nameless parties coming to the parliament. The manipulation now is not up to 25 per cent. Once you are smart, you will win elections. Election is polling booth business. It is the masses that vote while big men sit at home and make phone calls. Don’t be surprised, some of those governors will lose elections in 2015.

Do you agree with those who blame the rising spate of insecurity across Nigeria on preparations for  2015?

It started with political detractors, attacking a particular group of people, expecting them to react, but they didn’t. Anybody that says it is not political will have to convince me about where the insurgents are getting money to do their business. They have sponsors, who are they, and what is their purpose? There is no President of Nigeria that has gone through the kind of torture that President Goodluck Jonathan is going through. What else can we call it, is it religious? It is political.

Do you consider the opposition All Progressives Congress as threat to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015?

APC is not a threat to PDP in 2015.When you don’t have a good foundation, you have crises. If not for the court case on defection, all of them would have returned to PDP because there is no confidence now in those of them in APC. They are afraid that old members of APC have taken their chances and the only opportunity left for them is in the PDP. Everybody is looking for where it will be easier to get the party’s ticket. They had thought it would be easier for them in APC but they are seeing it clearly now that it is not as easy as they expected.

With the growing spate of insecurity, how come the security of most federal colleges of education is still outsourced?

The governing council met a system. Without council, they have expanded management and they take most of the decisions there. There is no way the system will not reverse the issue of outsourcing its security. The way they manage security is not the same as you manage your private business and I think the system must reverse this trend. Otherwise, who do you hold responsible in times of crises.

Lecturers in federal polytechnics and colleges of education have been on strike for close to a year. What, in your opinion, is the problem?

Surprisingly, when you get into some of these colleges, you will notice the issue of misplaced priorities, where managers leave what is important and face another thing. There is a college with a total student population of about 13,000 and has accommodation for about 1,000 students, meanwhile, the college embarked on mini stadium project; built an edifice for the council chairman and guest house for council members. One can conclude that government is trying in the effort to transform the education sector.

You can imagine a school in dire need of hostel accommodation; yet, the provost was building stadium and guest houses. That has nothing to do with the Federal Government. Most of the problems attributed to the Federal Government are caused by managers of those institutions. We also found out that some managers of colleges do not know how to operate laptops, yet they are canvassing the use of Information and Communication Technology. That is where regulators have to work.

Most of the colleges of education are very advanced in standard. Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, is more organised than some of the universities. College of Education, Abeokuta, is more organised than most universities, and when you look at the caliber of teachers they have, you would be surprised.

I was surprised to hear that Alvan Ikoku has over 120 Ph.D holders as academic staff. Most universities don’t have that number and because of the internal problems we have in our education system, I was forced to ask if there is a difference between a Ph.D holder in university and one in a college of education. Unfortunately, most of lecturers in the colleges have done more research than their counterparts in the universities.

What are the other issues?

From the totality of what we saw, it was a problem of technocrats taking decisions and allowing it to affect everybody. Both the polytechnic and colleges of education have been on strike, if they had dealt with the issue when the Academic Staff Union of Universities was on strike, they would have all returned to classrooms. It is getting to six months these students are off school and we are talking of insecurity in the country, it is a matter of idle mind being the devil’s workshop.

We need to capture the education sector and hold it close to our hearts. We should think of introducing vocational education to our system. Generally, we are excited, about 21 of us. We have finished with the southern part of the country and we are planning a tour of the North. Our tour has given us a picture of what our colleges are like.

The system has tried. I never knew the system provides grants for Ph.D. The small problem we have comes from managers of those schools. As far as infrastructure is concerned, we are satisfied because there are issues that the schools ought to handle themselves. We are making out all these reports, at the end of the day, we send to the system to deal with the issues. We have completed one step and we are telling the people what we have done. At the same time, whenever we get to a school, we try to meet with the unions, and appeal to them to go back to school to help us as chairmen of council for negotiation.

Has there been any agreement on the issue of salary harmonisation between universities, polytechnic and colleges of education?

We have to do the first thing first. We have two things that are very sensitive to us; the harmonisation and upgrading some colleges to degree awarding institutions. We intend to take these two at the same time. I told you earlier that part of the problem of education is with the managers. All the directors in the Ministry of Education are graduates of either universities or polytechnics and it is what they give to the minister, who is a politician, is what he will work with. You will expect that they will harmonise this and give to the minister but it is not working.

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