Philemon Yang visits Southern Cameroons, inaugurates Advanced Vocational Centre ⁰

Philemon Yang, who has now been reduced to a South West Prime Minister, has underscored CPDM government reforms aiming to make professional training a real driving force for economic growth. He was addressing attendees as he inaugurated the Advanced Vocational Training Centre based at Bonadikombo-Limbe last Saturday (17 December, 2016) before proceeding to cut the symbolic ribbon in the presence of the titular Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, Zacharie Perevet. It was his first appearance in Southern Cameroons ever since the so-called head of government was chased out of Bamenda.

Also present was a high-level delegation of South Koreans led by their Ambassador to Cameroon, Lim Jae Hoon, and a host of Cameroonian Ministers from resource departments like Basic, Secondary, Youth and Civic Education. The PM echoed the Centre’s vocation to offer initial and continuing training as well as be a resource centre for companies and a centre for validation of acquired professional experience. In so doing the Limbe Vocational facility will train young Cameroonians in woodwork, plumbing, welding, electricity, mechanics, office automation; refrigeration and air condition; and hotel management and tourism.

Limbe was, however, the PM’s third lap of a commissioning expedition that had earlier taken him in successive days to Sagmelima and Douala where he commissioned similar structures constructed and equipped thanks to the hailed cooperation between Cameroon and South Korea. While calling for proper use and functioning of the Centre, Philemon Yang reiterated President Paul Biya’s commitment to foster the employment and vocational training sector. The PM singled out in praise the Republic of South Korea for remarkable cooperation in the sector to realise the Vocational Centres in Cameroon by constructing and equipping them, training trainers, as well as developing training programmes for trainees.

For his part, the South Korean Ambassador to Cameroon, Lim Jae Hoon, took the pulpit in Limbe to explain that vocational training was the core of industrialisation. He said the Centre was appropriately located in Limbe with the capacity to serve Countries of the Gulf of Guinea and especially the local giant companies and industries among which SONARA, CDC, Shipyard or (Chantier Naval) and the awaited Limbe Deep Sea Port. Ambassador Hoon expressed confidence that the Vocational Centres would boost technical training in Cameroon as trainees from there would envy no better from anywhere else.

Mrs. Ngu Fomede nee Nibameh Comfort, Technical Adviser Number One at the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, gave a technical presentation of the Limbe Centre describing it as an architectural jewel on a land space of 59.491 square metres allocated to the project.

The Centre has 12 buildings including one Administrative Block hosting a Library and an Infirmary, two air-conditioned computer rooms, five buildings for workshops, each workshop having 30 individual spaces for trainees, two separate dormitories of 49 beds each for men and women, two residential equipped houses of three rooms each, and one restaurant of 150 seats. Worthy of note is that the Limbe project was one in a trio jointly executed with those of Sangmelima and Douala at CFA 24 billion and meant to develop 14 vocational trades.

Culled from Cameroon Tribune with partial editing from CAMCORD news desk