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| Buea Mayor Ekema Patrick Esunge with some scholarship beneficiaries |
By Ayuk O. M.
Shevett, Bako A. Fowzie, Vera M. Ngu, Etta C. Nyangalo & Bongbawo S.
Tita*
The Mayor of Buea, Ekema
Patrcik Esunge,last Friday ,August 31 organized a scholarship award ceremony at
Buea Council premises, during which financial assistance , didactic
materials as well as farm tools were given to three categories of
beneficiaries- the needy, meritorious students and the physically challenged,
all in a bid to better prepare them for the 2018/2019 school resumption.
The beneficiaries,
who ranged from nursery school to the university level totaled 1206, broken as
such: 740 primary pupils, 372 secondary school students and 127 university
students.
The material donations
included: wheel barrows, wheel chairs, chalk, blackboard, rulers, pens, hoes,
pit axes and watering cans.
A further breakdown of
statistics showed that there were 12 government colleges, 17 primary schools
and 34 Nursery schools
Some 100 university
students each received Fcfa 25.000 FRS; 25 university students (holiday jobbers
and interns) each got 50.000 FRS, donated by PMUC in partnership with the
council.
Books were given to 727
primary school pupils including 4 disabled who additionally received tricycles.
Some 97 successful GCE
OL/AL candidates for 2017/2018 academic year and 184 students who excelled at
the promotion examinations in the English sub-system (form1-4 and lower sixth)
were also beneficiaries.
The Mayor,
who has been fighting against ghost towns to no avail, used the ceremony to
warn that perpetrators of atrocious acts shall be dealt with soon.
The mayor said since he
took over the council years ago he has touched all the nooks and
crannies in Buea Municipality, impacting lives and enhancing development
by way of improving hygiene and sanitation, new infrastructure, grant of
scholarships, assistance to primary schools and colleges.
He regretted that in
spite of his development efforts “we have been faced with challenges posed to
by the secessionist tendencies of some misguided and opportunistic citizens who
have been on the onslaught terrorizing people by destroying lives and property.
“One of their primordial
goals has been to hatch actions that would perturb the smooth functioning of
school establishments.”
He revealed that he
has taken measures to accompany students in to school by banning all Moto bikes
around the Buea municipality .According to the mayor, motorbikes as a
contributing factor to the numerous kidnappings in Buea
The beneficiaries
were thankful to the mayor for the gifts. Obasi Arrey Moneke Mary, a
beneficiary from BGS Molyko- Buea attributed her brilliant success at the GCE
Ordinary Level with 11 papers, to holiday classes the council organized last
year.
Another
beneficiary, Halimatou Uba, a pupil from the Islamic school in Buea, said the
assistance got would help her a great deal.
Council assistance
was also given to widows and children of soldiers who have died fighting during
the crisis to protect lives and property
It should be noted
that Buea council usually organizes six programs annually: scholarship,
internship, holiday classes, holiday job, inter-quarter football and pension
scheme. But unfortunately this year and due to the current crisis situation,
budgetary allocations were made just for three: scholarship, internship and
holiday jobs.
*The authors of this
article are University of Buea Journalism Interns
(This report also appears in The Horizon Newspaper, Cameroon,of Sept 4,2018)
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