“Work hard, graduate with good certificates and get a good job,” – a message passed on from one young Cameroonian to the next by parents, guardians or the society for centuries.

They have been groomed and programmed by the schools they attend to have the employee mentality all through their entire academic lives. The same “educational” institutions which are normally supposed to both EDUCATE and prepare these young people for the real world. Ironical right?

What’s most shocking is the fact that many Nigerians leave Nigeria and come to Cameroon with little or no formal education (majority have at most just a primary school level education), and despite all the taxes they pay and disadvantages they have as foreigners, majority of them do exceedingly well in Cameroon; in the very same system where the average Cameroonian youth says there are no opportunities!

As a matter of fact, I come from a small town called Tiko in the South West Region. The Nigerians are no doubt, the richest people in my town as, perhaps, in most other towns across Cameroon.

These Nigerian traders and business men and women are in the same system where average Cameroonian youth claims there are no opportunities, despite his/her good education and big degrees.

How do you account for that?

WHAT KIND OF EDUCATION ARE WE OFFERING TO OUR YOUNG PEOPLE?

Is the Cameroonian education system a curse or blessing?