My target is to revamp moribund primary education system in Benue - Angwe

Bem Angwe is the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Benue State in the 2023 general election. In this encounter with KAJO MARTINS, the Professor of Law, who is the immediate past Director General of National Human Rights Commission, spoke on topical issues, saying his target would revamp moribund primary education system in the state, among other issues. Excerpts: COULD you please tell us your mission in partisan politics?

Well, I am Professor Bem Angwe, an indigene of Benue state, precisely from Gboko local government area, who is the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in Benue state for 2023 general election.

I decided to join politics having regard to what I have seen happening in Benue state which is the suffering of our people. My coming is to rescue and make a difference and is based on so many factors. First, I believe that God has given Benue state all that it can to become one of the best, ranging from natural resources, solid minerals, agricultural products that can make the state greater in this country. A swan water bottle of our orange is sold at N500 in Benue state and at N1,000 or there about at Abuja. So, we have to depart from selling our products in their law form. Our people stop eating yam in March because of lack of storage facilities and if there is a storage system, we can preserve and eat such yams year round.

Look at education, there is no public primary school that is functioning in Benue state, while private ones are functional. So, if the private sector schools can be vibrant, why can’t government train its teachers and provide facilities there and extend same to private schools. So, what I intend to do is to revamp our near moribund primary schools because this is the very foundation of one’s life wherever he or she want to go in life. I will ensure that people who make first class in the university come to teach in primary and secondary schools in the state. Also, parents don’t have to pay school fees which is another way of saving their money for other ventures. In Benue today, a director in the state civil service find it difficult to pay their wards school fees because government is not paying salaries regularly which I’m going to tackle such headlong.

You come from Benue North West where former governor George Akume and the incumbent governor Samuel Ortom hail from.

Do you think zoning has favoured you?

Which zoning are you talking about? Political parties zone offices according to their desires and my party, NNPP zoned the 2023 governorship seat to my area Gboko and based on competence, capability of individuals to provide good governance which is different from zoning. Don’t forget that zoning is a product of mediocrity and there is no time the whole people of Benue were brought together to discuss about zoning. A particular group will sit and discuss zoning but we have three senatorial districts in the state. Since 1999 when democracy returned in the country, we have never had a governorship candidate from Benue south. So, what kind of zoning are we talking about that does not take care of Zone C? Therefore, I rightly belong to the zone that I can contest governorship because I am a citizen of Benue state. I’m not contesting to be governor for a particular zone or people. What is to be zoned should be equality, equity, projects, development and time has come for us to move away from the concept of zoning but think about development and future of Benue and the country at large.

Does NNPP have structures on ground to be able to make positive impact at the polls in next year’s general election in Benue State?

Yes, structure are the people and Benue people believed in political ‘god-fatherism’ who has money to influence things to their advantage. My God, people and the electorates are all my structures and are following me behind. I will win and serve the people that elect me without looking back if given the mandate.

As a professor, what would you tell the NNPP presidential candidate as a way of putting a permanent solution to ASUU strike in the country?

I have already discussed this with our presidential candidate, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso that the first step towards solving ASUU problem is to look at the causative factors. Talking about the resources this country has natural resources to be harnessed to build our country based on what is available. We have enough money to take care of education sector; workers in the system; development and other areas of our economy so that all will benefit from natural resources given by God. We have what is called Educational Trust Fund and Tertiary Education Development Funds with monies coming from these sources into the coffers every day. Unfortunately, what we hear is that contracts have been awarded for building of structures. Why are they not talking about the personnel in such educational bodies like the ASUU? Here, we only think about education on the basis of degree but there is the need to build a middle manpower to train technicians to take care of various sectors in the country. For instance, most road side mechanics that we have cannot understand the modern day computer to detect faults in a vehicle before attempting to repair it which means they are lagging behind. Also, look at the issue of electricity, today our buildings have electrical drawings such that the roadside technician cannot read it since they are not computer literate. Therefore, my administration will train artisans so as to update their knowledge about current innovations and for them to be self sufficient.