The sun shone from a cloudless sky in a quiet, bushy neighbourhood in Tiko, in Cameroon’s Southwest region. Eposi Njoh Monyengi was busy at work.

In less than an hour, she successfully installed a solar panel on a roof.

Supplying renewable energy to remote communities across Cameroon has become a passion for Monyengi, 44.

“My main aim is to light the community,” said the mother of three, the first woman to install and maintain solar panels in her community.

In Tiko, she has won respect for her work and fondly referred to as “solar mama.”

In 2019, with the help of a local non-governmental organization (NGO), Rural Women Development Project, Monyengi travelled to India, where she studied installation and maintenance of solar panels for six months.

Since her return to Cameroon, she has installed solar panels in over 200 households, impacting more than 600 people.

Monyengi’s work has provided inspiration and ignited hope among her neighbours, friends and family alike in Ombe, her native village also known as Bamukong, on the outskirts of Tiko.

SUNNY HOPE

For over 50 years, the village with about 400 inhabitants had no electricity.

In May last year, Monyengi took a motorcycle to the banks of the Ombe River and then crossed the river on a canoe to reach the remote village.

In three months, she installed solar panels in 54 households.

When reporters visited the village, the village was full of life and energy, and music boomed from bars in the agrarian community.

“We are very happy,” said Ignatius Tamala, whom Monyengi appointed as chairman of the solar committee of the village.

“The kids are studying well, until 10, 11 at night,” said the 47-year-old father of five. “They study very comfortably because there is electricity.”

As the sun set and darkness began falling over the village, 49-year-old Gladys Fienyam switched on her solar bulb and started grilling fish. She has been grilling and selling fish for eight years.

Not long ago, nightfall would have forced her to stop working, but now Fienyam can grill fish for as long as she wants.

“I am extremely happy. I don’t use torch again. I have more customers now and mostly because of light,” she said.

Across Tiko municipality, villagers said their standards of living have since improved remarkably thanks to access to solar energy.

Monyengi’s success story is a booster to the fight against climate change that has taken its toll on the livelihoods of people especially in Africa where droughts, erratic rainfall, floods have become more frequent.

Since 2015, Cameroon has made renewable energy a priority, especially for rural electrification.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

But the project is not just about going green.

Monyengi has made it a point of duty to train more “solar mamas.”

“When you empower women, you have empowered a whole nation,” she said. “When people see me, they are so excited to see a woman because not every woman can do it. Just their happiness encourages me to do more for them.”

After losing her job as a plantation worker, Cecilia Otto, 55, was low-spirited and began struggling to eke out a living as a farmer.

“‘Solar mama’ convinced me that I should learn how to install solar panels,” said the mother of five. “I was reluctant (at first) but I finally accepted. Today I am pleased that I did.”

Otto is among over 50 women trained by Monyengi to install and maintain solar panels in rural communities. She now accompanies Monyengi regularly to install the panels.

They were also joined by 61-year-old Joan Nkweti, a retired civil servant and widow with four children.

“When I heard about solar installation, I was so interested because it makes me exercise what I really wished to do as a youth,” she said.

“I am so happy I achieved something at this age,” Nkweti said.

“I can go and install solar panels without anybody’s help, because the training teaches you what to do and what not to do,” she said.

“You feel so satisfied. You feel so happy for achieving something,” Nkweti said.

As the world observes World Environment Day, Monyengi hopes that the government and international NGOs will help her expand the project to other communities.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Silicon Mountain Conference, which went under way on Tuesday in the Southwest regional headquarters of Buea, is urging young tech-savvy Southern Cameroonians to develop their tech knowledge by learning from their peers.

On Thursday, which is day three of the week-long event  which is holding at the Higher Institute of Management Studies-HIMS in Buea, various speakers called on the young participants to leverage their talent to help develop technology product which can help transform society and create jobs.

At the various panel discussions, participants were encouraged  to join tech communities which will enable them to learn from peers and get hands-on skills they may not acquire from their schools or universities.

Among the participants is Zito Financial which  is also promoting the use of online payment methods for those venturing into online businesses so as to make financial transactions easier.

It should be recalled that prior to the Southern Cameroons Crisis, Silicon Mountain was a fixture in Buea, but had to relocate its activities to the Littoral region when the conflict was at its peak.

But the aspiring Buea tech sector is back as the conflict in the two English-speaking regions of the country shows signs of slowing down.

It is generally held that Buea will be a major tech hub in the years ahead as many young tech startups relocate to the city.

By Stephen Mukake in Buea

A 3-day Cyber Risk Assessment workshop was organised to train IT experts in strategic state institutions in Cameroon to establish an inventory of critical cyber risks.

The workshop from 2 to 4 April addressed issues on cybersecurity and cybercrime in Cameroon, national critical assets identification and the protection of critical cyberspace. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop, the General Manager of the [National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC) Prof. Ebot Ebot Enaw highlighted the severity of cybercrimes in Cameroon amongst which scamming, phishing, identity theft through the creation of fake social media accounts, web defacement and skimming. Furthermore, with the exponential growth of internet usage in Cameroon Prof. Ebot said there have been more than 1400 cases of scams, over 2000 cases of phishing especially with mobile money transfers, 32 government agencies and ministries web defacements and several local banks have suffered considerable financial losses estimated at over £4.8 million.

Citing the pros and cons of technology, British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Rowan James Laxton said:

Advances in technology are transforming businesses, and transforming lives, around the world. The way we do business, use information and communicate with each other has changed beyond recognition in our lifetimes. In the wrong hands, these powerful capabilities can be used to disrupt our everyday lives, instead of improving them. They can be harnessed by malign actors to disrupt our democratic elections, undermine our financial systems and cripple our critical infrastructure.

Cybercrime has become a scourge that spares no state and the protection of critical assets has become a global challenge for both the developed and developing countries.

Mr Laxton added:

The UK is developing its own capability through a system called Active Cyber Defence which is blocking fake emails, taking down phishing attacks and preventing public sector systems from switching to malicious servers. In the past year, this system has stopped over four and a half million malicious emails from reaching users and has weeded out over half a million scam emails that pretended to come from government accounts. The UK is also committed to working with our partners to build cyber security capacity across the Commonwealth. The British Prime Minister announced during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year that the UK would be making £15 million available to support this work through to 2020. We are already funding capacity reviews for 11 Commonwealth countries in Africa and Asia under this Programme. The remaining £10 million will be delivered through our Digital Access Programme and the international strand of the National Cyber Security Programme.

The National Cyber Risks Assessment workshop is part of the Commonwealth’s Cyber Security Programme to support low and middle-income countries to tackle cyber threats.

Source: British High Commission Yaounde