“The youths within Wum municipality have shown their servitude and thus deserve our gratitude for helping us keep our town and public places clean for the past three months. This is a sign of their civic responsibility towards community development.” said Mr. Dighambong Anthony Mvo, Mayor of Wum Council, during the closing ceremony of the 2020 Wum Council Holiday jobs that took place at the Wum Town hall under the auspices of the Senior Divisional Officer for Menchum, Mr. Abdoullahi Aliou on Friday September 30, 2020.
Despite challenges inflicted by the ongoing Anglophone crisis and the stiffened economic conditions in the two Anglophone regions of Cameroon, the traditional Wum Council Holiday jobs held this year 2020. Wum council it should be noted, stands tall in the Division as the only council that has never stopped empowering the youths in a bit to curb the high rate of unemployment rocking the municipality.
The challenge faced in this youth empowerment drive has been the sociopolitical stalemate in the two English speaking regions. The holiday makers described as full of enthusiasm, hardworking and obedient, were supervised by Councillor Buo Ephraim Amuh, Chairperson of works, materials and infrastructure committee of the Wum council for a three month employment.
The Mayor of Wum council, Mr. Dighambong Anthony Mvo showered praises on the youths who braved the odds to assist the council in keeping the streets and other public premises clean, as they dug blocked gutters, planted ornamental trees and flowers that help to beautify the municipality. He encouraged other youths who have never benefited from this youth empowerment scheme to apply whenever the opportunity comes. He also encouraged the youths to enroll in schools come October 5th 2020, to pursue their education and become better citizens of our nation.
In his words to the children, the Chief Executive of the Division, Mr. Abdoullahi Aliou, lauded the initiative of the council to accompany the youths of the municipality during holidays even in difficult moments, while adding that the council is a non-replaceable catalyst of development in the society, and called on the council to ensure sustainability of the ornamental trees, flowers the youths have planted during these holidays.
The SDO encouraged the youths to embrace the culture of planting, nurturing and harvesting peace for a better Wum municipality while reiterating through Kofi Annan’s quote, the importance of education. “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” Before calling on the Wum council to put in place a sustainable mechanism, to ensure that the job done by the children should not be in vain. The council has the obligation to continue maintaining cleanliness within the municipality.
Other speakers during the occasion included Councillor Buo Ephraim Amuh, Chairperson of works, materials and infrastructure committee of the Wum council, who made it clear that this year’s holiday jobs had a special status. The holiday job this year 2020 was the one with a special status that is why the mayor baptized it the batch of “Good citizenship and the right of the child” Special Status because of the following:-
Students were divided into two groups for the first time to fight against COVID 19
The first batch to work in Wum Council holiday worker jackets
The first time for students to work for three months
The first batch to wear face masks
The first batch to travel to Ukpwa
The first batch to travel to Ko-oh, Illum and Mbinjam
The first batch to include persons with disability.
The chairperson of works also enumerated the difficulties faced this year before making some recommendations.
“No successes without difficulties, the following difficulties were encountered:
Inadequate tools for work, no first aid box
Some students were lazy and stubborn
Many students recorded unjustified absences
A cross section of the population do not yet know the importance of sanitation that is why most gutters were blocked in some areas for crossing of bikes.
Some areas were not appreciative. To them it seems as if the students were paying a debt.”
“{…} Recommendations
The Hygiene and Sanitation of Wum Council should enhance cleanliness by doing regular follow up and sensitization to the population. Their work is in the field not in the office.
The forces of Law and Order should collaborate more with the council to see that Wum town maintains her hygiene and sanitation. The Administrators, Delegates, Fons, Ardos and the population should understand that the cleanliness of the town does not lie only in the hands of the council, but all of us should put hands on deck to give Wum the cleanliness she deserves.”
The youths were overwhelmed with euphoria and expressed it through their songs and a speech read by Kah Odilia Ngei, the head girl. she said” it has not been easy doing this job, especially in this crisis”. He further said that the holiday job was an ideal opportunity for them to stay away from HIV, Malaria, drug abuse, Typhoid and learn how to prevent the deadly COVID-19 pandemic as well as other social ills. This year holiday job was marked by working along the streets, digging and opening culverts, planting flowers, working around church premises, palaces, schools, delegations and administrative buildings. We therefore beg on the council to make sure that this holiday job comes up very often. The council should also fine means to continue to follow up this cleanliness of the town. “We also plead for a committee to be set up for frequent toilet supervision and checking of the hygiene conditions of the municipality.” She also enumerated the difficulties faced in the course of this holiday exercise; “I can testify that this exercise is a work well done. For me, we have really done our best to make sure that our schools and some areas in Wum Municipality have become a paradise after being bushy. Even though we were unable to finish our daily task in time due to the shortage of tools such as pit axes, crowbars, wheelbarrows, cutlasses, hoes and buckets, we still managed with the few provided while pleading for more hopefully next year. So we are really pleading for more tools as mentioned above and also a means of transport so as to avoid to trek long distances like Illum, Ukpwa, and Ko-oh etc. before beginning work made it so tiring and made some of us unable to work especially those living with disability.”
The Wum Council has been consistent for the past seven years in empowering the youths as they help in keeping the town clean.
Seven years of consistency in supporting the youths, a short time absolutely, but an eternity for such a corporate social responsibility venture. The number of intake for the Wum Council Holiday jobs has been growing at a geometric rate year in year out. From 46 intake in 2014, the number is now at 260. This consistency has been possible thanks to collective efforts and the support of the Paris Mutuel Urnain Camerounais that contributed to the intake of an additional 50 youths in 2018 and the Honorable Member of Parliament for Menchum South, Hon. Wallang Richard Ebua, who took an additional 50 and 60 youths in 2019 and 2020 respectively. So far, the Wum Council and partners have empowered a total number of 879 youths within the seven years of Wum Council holiday jobs scheme.
Each year has its support. To meet its mission and the vision of Wum Council, recruit, mold and empower the youths with civic values and financial empowerment, to enable them adequately prepare their return to school each academic year. The last four years have been difficult ones due to the persistent stalemate that prevails in the two Anglophone regions. Despite these challenges, the Wum Council has not stopped its engagement of looking out to students, youths and girls in its corporate social responsibility programme. This year therefore, the Council had its focus on civic education and the rights of the child. For this year’s success of the organization, adapted effective and efficient communication tools were put in place to ensure visibility of actions.
Though a few lapses here and there in terms of organization, these few loop holes cannot mare the general organization of the 2020 Wum Council holiday jobs. The closing ceremony was presided by the Senior Divisional Officer for Menchum Division, Mr. Abdoullahi Aliou, who lauded the initiative of the council to accompany the youths of the municipality, while adding that the council is a non-replaceable catalyst of development in the society, and called on the council to ensure sustainability of the ornamental trees and flowers which the youths have planted during these holidays.
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