Cameroon: Becky Effoe ends civil service career amid calls for extra services.

Rebecca Limunga Effoe  being decorated for meritorious services  to the State by Governor Okalia Bilai /File

By Christopher Ambe, and Josepher Mbako Zakah*     

     

Rebecca Limunga Effoe(fondly called Aunty Bex),Director of State-owned Intensive Vocational Training Center for Office Employees(IVTC) ,Buea has   officially joined the club of Cameroonian  senior citizens .

    Aunty Bex, in her early 60’s, Tuesday September 27, smilingly bade farewell to Cameroon Civil Service, after serving in various capacities for 30 years, to begin her retirement. She has been replaced as Director (alternatively called Chief of Centre) of IVTC by Nchituh Ndifor Charles, who was her assistant for three years.

    Southwest Regional Delegate for Employment and Vocational Training, John Atosoh, who presided at the handing over ceremony and later chaired a cocktail party in honor of Aunty Bex, showered praises on the senior citizen, describing her as a motherly and assiduous person  whom many would enjoy working with.

     Apparently still in need of the services and collaboration of the out-gone director, Mr. Atosoh quipped: “Madam Limunga Effoe, I would like to say that, you are still the Chief of Centre here, appointed by the Regional Delegate”.

   The “unofficial appointment” by the same official who chaired the handing over ceremony drew a long applause from the guests and staff at the send-off party -and observers said it was indicative of the strategic role Aunty Bex played in making IVTC a famous resource center in Cameroon.

    The new  Chief of Centre,Mr. Nchituh,who admitted having

Aunty Bex & Successor Nchituh

worked  well with the retiree and learned much from her, said his administration would adopt an-open door policy and build from where his predecessor ended.

  “My coming to IVTC is God’s design; I call for teamwork and solidarity, so that in the end it should be our success story and not mine alone.” Mr.Nchituh likened Aunty Bex “to a resource that we cannot do without”-a hint that her services would be sought after from time to time.

    Mr. Nchituh promised to work honestly with hierarchy in order to help realize Cameroon development goals in the area of capacity-building.      

   Retired Aunty Bex, is holder of a Diploma in Secretaryship from Pitman Central College -London and another Diploma in International Business, as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management Studies from Kingston Polytechnic (today Kingston University in London).

    She is on record to have served as Private Secretary to four Cameroon Members of Government after her studies in London.

   For several years, a  duty-conscious Aunty Bex  served as Private Secretary to  two  Ministers of Higher Education, Professor Peter Agbor Tabi (1994-97) and Jean Marie Atangana Mebara;and later  Private Secretary and Research Assistant to two Public Health Ministers respectively: Professor Gottlieb Monekosso and Laurent Esso.

   Even before becoming Private Secretary to the mentioned  ministers, Aunty Bex on her return from studies  in London, worked at the then University of Yaoundé as Administrative Assistant. She had earlier worked in the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication before traveling abroad for further studies.

   As director of IVTC, Aunty Bex’s noticeable commitment to nation-building attracted State recognition and within five years she was   honored with three different categories of state medals, especially in a country where many work  for decades and go on retirement without such honour.

    On May 20, 2015, Southwest Regional Governor Okalia Bilai decorated her on behalf of the state with the medal of Knight of the Cameroon Order of Valor.

   Several years earlier Aunty Bex was decorated with the Knight of Cameroon Order of Merit, followed with the award of the Officer of Cameroon Order.

Delegate Atosoh(in suit) oversees handing over  keys

   The soft-spoken senior citizen is a strategist of the ruling CPDM in Fako Division. Aunty Bex, who is a native of Buea is also a noted event organizer

A Devout Baptist Christian, she likes to attribute her successes in life to the hand of God.

    Speaking at her departure party on campus, she was very much thankful to God for providing her with good health and a high sense of direction in  executing  all her state-assigned tasks while  a civil servant for 30 years.

She encouraged students and staff to work hand in glove with her successor.

 “I know you will be able do the task. We have worked together and I know the stuff you are made of”, she said to Mr.Nchituh.

   IVTC Buea offers specialized diploma courses for a duration of nine months, in several specializations, such as: Bilingual Secretary ship, Office Automation secretary, Computer Maintenance & Repairs, Accounting Secretary, Computerized Accounting and Management

Short/tailored certificate courses too are offered such as: office administration, secretarial procedures, stress and time management, meeting and minutes taking.

   The institution has graduated thousands of Cameroonians who are gainfully employed in pubic and private sectors.

 

*Josepher Mbako Zakah is a University of Buea Journalism student