Univerity of Buea: Students March To Thank Mr Biya For Promised Laptops

Students of the University of Buea, UB, have addressed a “Thank You” letter to the Head of State, President Paul Biya for his promise to grant 500,000 laptops to students in Higher Education. This was at the end of a somewhat belated support march in Buea on Wednesday, October 19, 2016.

They marched from the Independence Square in Buea to the South West Governor’s Office where they handed the letter to Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai for onward transmission to the Head of State.
The students in the letter say “it is with great delight and a lot of excitement that we welcomed the news. We equally note with great optimism that our leaders have our interest at heart and will stop at nothing to see that we have a bright future before us.”
“...Our father, our president, our leader, our commander-in-chief who ensures our security, and our mentor who has not only provided us with eight state universities, but now also providing us the tools to use in order to be productive and competitive in a global digital economy,” the thank you letter reads in part.

The students in a motion read by Ngashi Wilson, a year-three student at UB’s Political Science Department applauded President Biya’s gesture and thanked government.
“We can boldly stand up and say we are proud of our country and, above all, we thank God almighty for our president who has our interest at heart,” the motion read.
The students said the laptops will fast tract Cameroon’s drive to emergence by 2035.

Governor Okalia promised to transmit the “Thank You” letter to President Biya, urging the students to support the Head of State’s vision to make Cameroon an emerging country by 2035.
Justifying the low-keyed turnout of students at the march, UB’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Nalova Lyonga said every student could not have been mobilised to take part in the march.
“...I think we are happy with the number that we brought up. All I can tell the students is that we have the legacy to keep the University of Buea as the place to be as the governor himself kept reminding us... the head of state has gone from an excellence award to one student, one computer,” Prof. Nalova told the press.

She denied claims that they had been pressured to organise the support march, given that similar shows had been staged in Bamenda and Yaoundé shortly after the announcement was made.
She said they had to wait for school resumption to organise the ceremony.

On how soon the students will receive the laptops, she said: “We are going to wait for news to come from the Ministry of Higher Education. The important thing is that the computers have been awarded and the students are going to have it.”
Though the students were transported to and fro the event ground, they were given FCFA 1,000 each shortly after the brief ceremony at the esplanade of the Governor’s Office.

Meantime, shortly before yesterday’s march, a list of those to benefit from the President’s Excellence Award to meritorious students of the University of Buea had been put up. Disbursement of the FCFA 50,000 due each beneficiary is announced to began yesterday, October 20.

The Sun