Noni's Academic Strides
“Intra
and Inter Village Differences have Divided and weakened Noni’s Quest to Assert
its Identity”
-Dr.
Ndyun Aloysius Mbuh
Noni
by virtue of its population is generally considered as the minority tribe in
Bui Division. As a result of this reality, the tribe has constantly suffered marginalisation
and exclusion from the larger tribes and from Administrative Conspiracies thus
excluding it from certain political benefits that under normal circumstances
should have been theirs. Dr. Ndyun Aloysius Mbuh vividly paints the
marginalisation and other abnormal conditions that the Noni people have been
through. His genuineness is however highlighted by his acknowledgement of the
fact that the intra and inter village differences have greatly divided and
weakened Noni’s efforts to assert its identity in Bui Division.
He
was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante
Excerpts
Could
you shed some light on the focus of your Doctoral Thesis?
………….
My
thesis titled “Noni political assertion of identity
in Bui Division; 1906-1992” examines the
evolutionary dynamics of ethnic politics in Bui Division.
It
argues that Noni has been a victim of the Nso and administrative conspiracies.
This was basically because of policies and practices that, tended to perceive
and treat the area as being homogeneously Nso. These policies and practices for
the most part excluded Noni from freely enjoying the benefits of being part of
the nation Cameroon. Consequently, different generations of Noni elite have
vigorously fought for visibility, and to assert their separate existence.
Unfortunately, intra and inter-village differences most often weakened their fighting front.
………………..
What
inspired you to choose that specific domain as your area of focus?
………………..
As
a young student in the 80s, I witnessed the political denial of the Noni people
from freely participating in national life. They were obliged to politically evolve either through Oku or Nso. I witnessed how my
parents literally "dash"(give for free) their goods to the Nso. I
also witnessed how the Nso treated Fons from Noni, and this pushed me to
research in the cultural and political history of our people. Consequently, out
of a plethora of topics I chose the present one to contribute in the fight for
visibility and identity. It is my way of telling the world that Noni are a
people with a rich culture, political institutions and history and that this
people deserve to have a seat for themselves in parliament and not to share a
seat with Oku as is the case.
………….
As
you enter that illustrious class of respected academics, we would like to get
your appreciation of the general conduct of Noni Youths. What advise do you
have for them?
……………
Noni
youths are victims of their environment. The Subdivision is endowed with very
fertile soils and anything does well here. Children therefore get used to money
, beer among other distractions at a very tender age. Consequently, the love
for easy life replicates into school dropouts, delinquency and other social
ills. Consequently, there is a huge unskilled population of Noni youths
littered in urban areas especially in Douala and Yaounde. The present crisis
merely aggravated the already dire situation.
Noni
youths also lack mentorship and even those who have the opportunity to be
mentored usually chose the easy way.
……………
Despite
the upsurge in Academic achievements in Noni, the low number of school going
children remains disturbing. What do you think accounts for this and what’s the
way forward?
…………….
My
discussion above provides the main reason for this situation. But the
Anglophone crisis which transformed into the Anglophone Armed Conflict
aggravated the situation and resulted into the mass exodus of children of
school going age.
Those
who could not shoulder the cost of sending their children out of the village
abandoned these children to their fate.
The
solution to this therefore is to embrace all progressive and tenable ideas that
tackle the root cause of the crisis.
Another
solution is to support the back-to-school initiative so that a whole generation
of our kids are not intellectually slaughtered for what they know nothing about.
The right to education is a fundamental human right no matter what ever reasons
they are fighting for. The Noni elite should also converge in discussion fora
to propose sustainable solutions on how to transform our soil fertility and
it's products to sustainable and meaningful transforming semi industries. A
case in point could be coffee transformation.
We
should encourage the formation of cooperatives and CIGs that will help in
marketing our products in and out of Noni. This will empower our people and
enable them to send their children to school.
………….
Do
you have any last message?
………….
I wish to thank you for giving me this
opportunity to tell our story. Noni is a
beautiful land mired in hope and dreams. Our greatness can only be achieved if
we keep aside individuality and adopt the Ubuntu Spirit.
Interviewed
by Francis Ekongang Nzante.
Noni News
Email: francoeko@gmail.com
Tell: +237696896001/ 678401408/671262198
I want to thank Mr. Francis Ekongang Nzante for this piece of interview in which the Noni Historic icon, Dr. Ndiyun Aloysius Mbuh in very simple and clear way points out the ordeal of the Noni as a people
ReplyDeletewho have continuously been marginalized, oppressed and fragmented only to make thier identify look inferior.
As a matter of fact it is high time the Noni elites , politicians, scholas, academic s, business people and other professionals like those in the legal profession, administration,, banking and finance, engineering etc pull their resources together and assert to take Noni to it's right full place in the geopolitical map of Bui, NW and Cameroon.