Dr. James Bassey Ejue who is an associate Professor of Guidance and Counseling and also the Provost, Cross River State College of Education, Akamkpa. He spoke with FRANCIS OGAR recently during the 3rd Matriculation Ceremony of the college on his plans for the school amongst others
What are your visions for the college?
Thank you .The tremendous achievements recorded by Prof. A. Owan Enoh, remains a solid foundation for any incoming administration to build upon. If anybody wants to delude himself that Prof. Enoh has finished all the works in the College, he is short sighted. What he has done is to set an agenda for the college. A Provost comes and goes but the college comes to stay.
I shall proceed from there; he has left a solid infrastructure you can see with your eyes. The evidence is everywhere, as we now begin to focus on those facilities. For instance, you have the gigantic library, and now I shall focus on stocking the library, sensitizing students on the use of the library and bringing it to the best global practices like having an E-facilities installed in the library .
You know, His Excellency is passionate on the production of science teachers and mathematics because of the development agenda he wants to drive in the state. The laboratories which the state government had brought to a standard can only be kept functional if continuously provide the regents and chemicals and all that they need in the laboratories to make them laboratories. We will focus on that.
However, we still have some new grounds to break. For instance, the commissioner for education is now talking of creating technical education and vocational training, and we as a College of Education charged with the mandate of providing excellent teachers to a better standard, need to key in early.
My plan in this regard is to construct standard technical education workshops with facilities that will now lead to the production of teachers who would not only be very good in the head but also good in the hands, so that the eco-system would grow to a big technical college in the state and even beyond.
What are your challenges?
My major challenge is on attitude and values and this cuts across both the staff and students. I will need to tackle their values; I will need to tackle their attitudes. Attitude to work, study values, towards the things they owe dear above academic standards, and so on. So, I need to tackle the hearts for what I call Education for the heart, their values and their attitudes.
How will tackle the challenge posed by funding?
You see this is one area that has been largely unexploited. That is the area of keeping into philanthropic organizations. There is charity money, there is philanthropic money. I would like to establish a center for linkages and partnership. The purpose for these centers will be to access donor funds as a means of creating funding to support and compliment what the government is doing for us.
On COEASU strike?
Well, we respect the wishes of the union, whether local or national unions but we have studied the demands of the national union of the college of education, when they went on this national strike. You would find that some of the demands have no bearings with the state institutions. But some of their demands which have to do with the current salaries scale with the college of education. For Cross River State, we are quite very lucky. I think
Governor Liyel Imoke was the very first to implement the present salary scale as prescribed by the college of education.
No doubt our local union has 1, 2, 3, demands and when we finished the interview process, I can assure you that the governor who is a visitor to the college is a man of due process and merit. Iam promising that we shall address the local demands.
The 65 years retirement which the federal government had approved was overture in their pay slips. The only issue that remains is the implementation of their promotions which they were demanding. Out of their three local demands, we have implemented two, and action is being taken on their promotion exercise.
When I was appointed the provost, I interacted with the union leaders and explained to them that out of their three local demands, we have met two and attention is on the last one. The local demands are not applicable to us. They Okayed it and gave us three months. You know union does not give you a blanket approval. Luckily their congress suspended the strike. Now, we are just one month old in the office and before the three months elapse, I can assure you that the last demand is going to be addressed.
On the completion of abandoned projects
The uncompleted buildings you have seen have been there since the inception of Cross River State College of Basic Studies. I will like to point out that during the administration of Professor Owan Enoh, he decided that those old uncompleted buildings be completed and put to use. If you look at the staff demonstration school, the Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools were abandoned buildings. They were completed and made to look so nice. If you look at the ITC building, it was an abandoned building that have been completed and put to use.
