An excerpt of a brief email from Prof. Nalova Lyonga, Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea that found its way to a number of Cameroonian Internet forums:
100 students calling themselves UBSU want to rule over 17,000 students. How can that be? That is why they foiled a meeting convened by the Administration for all elected executives of the Faculties. All the Faculties have completed their elections smoothly. Now UBSU claims that they a central body that must control all these executives. To do that, they want to hold their own exclusive elections, without the other executives.
The University says, No; we must be democratic and free! If they want to federate, the members must come from among the faculty executives, not UBSU.
UBSU is violent; they come to school with clubs and knives to terrorize students and teachers out of class. It is a dangerous group, consisting of undergraduates, ex-students, non-students - all persons susceptible to being used by extremists of all sorts who want a political gains and self-aggrandizement. University of Buea cannot go down this path. And we must all act. You can send this message to anyone.
We successfully laid the foundation stone yesterday for the building of a 2,500 bed-capacity hostel to house students on campus. This is the long-term plan for modern accommodation and a business centre. The students want photocopiers on campus, which is not a problem but have to be limited in addition to photocopiers which we are furnishing in the library. The haphazard connection of photocopiers to electrical outlets in the current buildings is a hazard and we have had fires twice.
Nalova Lyonga, PhD
Vice-Chancellor, University of Buea.
It would be nice if persons with large egos gave this institution a chance in life. UB was the cry of the people for a special kind of education but what obtains today is a total nightmare. A place of learning should devote its time to teaching and learning, leaving aside peripheral issues of politics that crop up.
Human organizations are important but novelties need time to mature, not "might makes right" dictates.Students must not lose sight of the fact that their time at UB is limited so they need to focus on maximizing output. The future depends on knowledge acquired today and future employers or institutions of higher learning will need references from the home institutions.
What good is it working to leave a bitter taste that will affect the future?
Posted by: John Dinga | Friday, 15 February 2013 at 05:52 PM