WHICH TOWN WILL HOST STATE UNIVERSITY IN THE NORTH WEST?

The North West Region of Cameroon is one of the most highly scholarised provinces in the country.

By SNOWSEL ANO-EBIE

The absence of a state owned university remains an object of speculation. The no nonsense politically conscious people think that their region is being marginalised because they vomitted the Biya regime since 1990 and are not willing to "repent". If not, how then can one justify that the region with the most successful lay private colleges; the most brilliant mission colleges in Mankon, Nso, Bali, Bafut, and Ashing Kom; and above all, the province with the most highly populated government colleges (Bamenda, Bambili and Mbengwi) has been deprived of a state university for this long?

When president Paul Biya promised to create a university in Maroua, people jump-concluded that the country's second Anglo Saxon university will also see the light of day in the North West. However, when the presidential decree creating the University of Maroua came out, no mention was made of another state university "elsewhere". The people of "Bamenda" immediately re-visited their political victimisation theory.

Another current of thinking which started as a joke and has snow-balled into everyday discussions holds that the North West state university has been delayed because the province is divided on where it should be located. Towns topping the list are Mbengwi, Bambili and Bamenda, and lobbyists are burning the midnight candle as they scramble to convince the powers that be that their candidate is the most appropriate.

Proponents for Mbengwi as the right choice argue that the next Anglo Saxon university in Cameroon must logically be a technical university. This is why the ENIET in Mbengwi should be transformed into the Mbengwi Technical University, which will also host the Anglophone equivilent of ENSET, the higher institution for training technical college lecturers. The University of Yaounde II was created on the foundation of the ENIET in Soa, which means that a university can also be convenietly founded at the ENIET in Mbengwi. Talking about infrastructure, they point out that the Mbengwi Technical University can initially be lodged in existing structures at ENIET Mbengwi, the prestigious GHS Mbengwi(today GBHS) and the structures that lie in waste at Gwofon. The last argument for Mbengwi is the political doctrine of "regional balance" in development. Given that Mbengwi, an old divisional headquarters, is not on the Ring road, when the construction of the Ring road brings development to the rest of the province, justice will be done if the North West university brings development to Momo division and surrounding towns like Bamenda, Bafut, and Bali.

The proponents for Bambili as the right place to host a university equally have very passionate arguments. Bambili is already hosting the ENS Annex, which can conveniently be transformed into the University of Bamenda-Bambili. Secondly, the university for the state of West Cameroon was originally earmarked for Bambili and it started as CCAST Bambili. The project was discontinued by the Yaounde regime, so justice will be done to the Anglophones and to Bambili if a state university were created there today. Another political argument in favour of Bambili is that the parliament had already recommended that ENS Annex Bambili be transformed into an independent university. Finally, the strategic location of Bambili will provide another rallying town like Bamenda, which the entire North West can readily identified with.

The advocates for Bamenda as the place not to avoid, argue that as the provincial headquarters it should logically host the university as is the case in Ngaoundre, Buea, Douala, and today Maroua. Those red-blooded North Westerners who want Bamenda to truly emerge as the third biggest city in Cameroon, are asking who on Earth wants to deprive Abakwa of the rippling effects the creatin of a state university will bring, by taking it to Mbengwi or Bambili. Such a possibility will be yet another victimisation of the "Bamenda man".

The North West people are well known for their dynamism, hardwork, perseverence, and legendary solidarity. "Graffi solidarity" can be seen each time a wonderful idea emmanates from the province with everyone else sacrificing his/her ambition for the idea to succeed for the glory of all. The success story of football teams like PWD Bamenda, CAMMARK, Free Boys, Kumbo Strikers and Yong Sports Academy; the effective take off of banks like AmityBank, Union Bank, NFC; or the pride of co-operative institutions like Azire Co-operative Credit Union, Bamenda Police Co-operative, and CAMCCUL; and the political steadfastness of the Social Democratic Front, SDF party, are all prove of "graffi solidarity".

Unfortunately, just as graffi solidarity has not succeeded in deciding whether the provincial headquarters of the Savannah Region should be located in Nkambe or in Kumbo, it has equally failed in determining whether the state university should be created in Mbengwi, Bambili or Bamenda. Maybe, when the government finally casts its deciding vote for one of the candidates, supporters of the other two will be democratic enough to rally behind it.