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| Prof. Victor Julius Ngoh,President of CUIB |
But
when Horizon Contributing Editor
Christopher Ambe visited CUIB Buea last Friday students were busy with studies.
He interviewed CUIB President Prof.Victor Julius Ngoh to know the situation on
the ground. Excerpts:
Prof. Victor Julius Ngoh, it is almost a month following the
resumption of schools in Cameroon. Would you say CUIB resumed classes
hitch-free?
Thank you very much
for this opportunity. Yes, the Catholic University Institute of Buea
effectively started academic activities for the 2020/2021 year on the 28th
of October with orientation and registration of both new and returning students.
Thereafter, lectures effectively started .And in view of the fact that CUIB is
a Christian university, the school year started with the celebration of the
Holy Mass on Thursday, 12th November by His lordship, Michael Miabesue Bibi ,who
is the Chancellor and Pro-chancellor of the University. He was the main celebrant
of that Holy Mass.
So I can confidently
tell you that we have effectively started classes both on the Buea and Douala
campuses.
How was admission of new students this academic year compared to the
previous year?
Compared to last year,
I am happy to tell the public that admissions into CUIB for the 2020/2021 year
have been very good, because of the full involvement of faculty staff and
alumni-and also the great interest that the Chancellor put to ensure that the
new students were actually selected.
For the 2019/2020 school
year, the number of new students was 100.For the 2020/2021 academic year, we
admitted 307 new students. You can see that we have done very well, given the
on-going Anglophone crisis and March 2020 Civid-19 pandemic.
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| Partial view of CUIB (Buea Campus) |
What would you say makes CUIB a center of attraction?
is a centre
of attraction not because I am saying it; it is the feedback that we get from parents,
students and of course the general public.CUIB blends the theoretical aspects
of learning with the practical or
industrial or professional aspects of
learning and putting Christianity/God at the centre of all activities we do.
And it has been established that our students are not really job-seekers, but
they are job-creators, with the ethical and moral upbringing of Catholic teachings
impact on faculty, staff and students.
As the new president of CUIB, have you been
having any conflict with some workers who were loyal to the previous management
team?
We have not had any
conflict.I think all of us are on board-the faculty members, the staff, the
students and the administration working for the good of CUIB.No visible discontent.
The Bishop has made it very clear that we move forward, and get everybody on
board. So we are in the same board and have the same mission and vision for
CUIB.
When you
appointed by the Apostolic Administrator as the President and with the
misunderstanding that ensued, I was reliably informed that you were receiving
some threats from the previous management team. Are you still receiving such
threats?
Well, the threats
were not only against me;some administrators also received threats. I think it
was out of desperation and frustration as they could not see themselves not
being part of CUIB. We have to understand that society evolves and CUIB evolves
and each and every one of us is called on stage at a particular time to play
our role and leave the stage for others.
I
understand University of Buea is the mentor university of CUIB.What is your
appreciation of the relationship between the two institutions?
Well, from statements of officials that University of
Buea send here to participate in academic activities, the relationship is very
good. And I think you know, just as a good section of the public, that I was once
a teacher at the University of Buea and I held several positions there. So the
cordial relationship is there.We respect the University of Buea as our mentor.
As the Deputy VC in charge of Teaching at University of Buea I said in one of
our senate meetings that, the University of Buea can also learn from CUIB. So
it is not a situation of a master-servant relationship.
You said all is well at CUIB.But it is alleged
there are cases in court against the CUIB. Can you confirm this?
I have not received any
court notification. So I would say as of today the CUIB has not been dragged to
court. What I gathered is in court is the problem between the defunct Board of
trustees of CUIB and the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Buea.
What are the courses
CUIB offers?
We have four schools:
School of Agriculture & Natural Resources, School of Business, School of
Engineering,School of Information Technologies and of course we have re-introduced
the Higher National Diploma program. And to give you an idea,the School of
Agriculture offers a BSc degree in certain areas and also an MSc degree ;the
School of Business offers a BSc degree in certain areas and also an MBA
degree.Then, the School of Engineering offers a BSc degree in certain areas;the
School of Information and Technologies offers degrees in certain areas. And of
course the NHD is offered under the canopy of the Ministry of Higher Education…
By the end of next year,I think we will graduate the first batch of master students.
Some people
say studying at CUIB is very expensive when compared to state-owned
universities in Cameroon. What is your reaction?
It is a misconception for anybody or any Cameroonian
to say that studying in CUIB is more expensive than state-owned universities.
State universities in Cameroon do not pay tuition fees;they pay registration fee..
.There is a difference between tuition and registration fees. To say we are
expensive more than State universities is not true. Even compared to other
private institutions of Higher Learning, CUIB is not expensive. In fact, some of our programs are less
expensive or lower so long as payment of tuition fee is concerned. For
instance, the HND program, our students pay a maximum of 280, 000 FCFA, but
other private higher institutions of learning, students pay between FCFA
300,000 -400,000 for HND courses.
Before
resumption of classes this academic year, there was wide-spread disinformation
that CUIB was shut down. How did you succeed to fight against this?
You see it was not
just fighting. We made sure we told the populations exactly what the situation
on the ground was. And you know misinformation and disinformation don’t last
long. They only succeed when the public is not informed A poorly educated
public quickly falls prey to lies. I think Cameroonians have passed that stage
and so always fact-check what they doubt.
Do you have
any other message about the CUIB for the public?
I can only say CUIB
is on and doing very well. Our two campuses in Buea and Douala are functioning smoothly…
Why did
CUIB decide to have another campus but in Douala?
CUIB chose to have
another campus in Douala when it did principally because of the crisis in the
Northwest and Southwest regions. Our main Campus which is well-built and well-furnished
is in Wokaka,a neighborhood in Buea;but secessionist fighters harassed and
intimidated workers/students and so
parents and students could no longer take the risk; in order to keep CUIB going
it was decided that a campus be created in Douala,to take care of the academic
and spiritual of students whose parents were scared to allow their children
come to Buea.
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