By
Christopher Ambe, and Bako Fowzie Abiba (UB Journalism student)
The University of Buea (UB) last Friday
December 13,at its 23rd convocation, graduated
3225 students -ranging from First
degrees to PhD , at a time when getting employment is a herculean task, a situation further
compounded by the three-year old Anglophone crisis, which is having a toll on
the national economy.
But
the thousands of graduates were variously advised by university officials to be
poised for success and as such see any challenge on their way to success as an
opportunity to capitalize on.
Presiding
at the convocation, Pro-chancellor of University of Buea.Prof.Edward Ako Oben,
who sat in for the Minister of Higher Education Jacques Fame Ndongo, told the
graduates to remain positive as they face the job market.
Prof
Ako Oben told the graduates that the class of degree obtained by any graduates would not be the only
determinant for their success but that, hard work would be highly required. He
urged them to be ambitious and apply the knowledge acquired in school into
practice, so to effect meaningful changes and positive changes in society.
For
his part, the convocation guest speaker, Prof.Kale Samuel Ewusi, presented a
paper on the theme “Building Peace for African youth: Stakes and Challenges”.
He
cautioned the graduates :" Those of you graduating today will leave
this campus with qualifications ranging
from Bachelor to doctoral degrees .The world out of this campus is a different
world; it may even be different from
what you study ; it’s a tough life , it’s real life , it is a battle -and with
the knowledge you have acquired, and if you are vigilant you will see opportunities , sometimes clearly,other times not so
clearly . If you are not vigilant you will only see challenges and in some
cases life will beat the hell out of you”
But
the guest speaker assured the graduating students that challenges are not bad,
for they create opportunities.
Acknowledging
the pivotal role peace plays in development and urging students to be peace
advocates, Prof Kale reiterated the urgent need to improve the electoral system
, improve the the justice system , human rights promotion and protection
mechanism ,which he said, are building blocks for peace.
Harping
on the importance of jobs for economic empowerment and in defusing social
tension, he called upon the Government of Cameroon to speed up efforts in
improving the business sector.
He
said challenges faced by Cameroon can better by handled by Cameroonians
themselves, urging that Cameroonians should be nation- builders rather than
destroying the available infrastructures.
"Peace
will return to Cameroon when we the citizens of Cameroon understand that we
don't have to be the Government to make a difference or contribute to the
development of a community",Prof.Kale remarked.
Earlier,
in his welcome speech, Prof. Ngomo Horace Manga, Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Buea, said the institution was committed to providing quality
education through teaching and research, professionalism and knowledge
management
Of
the total of 3225 students graduated, 2891 earned Bachelor’s degrees, 122 got
Master’s degrees and 31 were PhD earners.
NB: This article also appears in The Horizon
Newspaper,Cameroon,of December 18,2019
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