Outstanding Youths in Bamenda Awarded

Outstanding Youths in Bamenda Awarded

Twenty five youths in Bamenda, North West Region of Cameroon have been awarded for their outstanding contributions in various societal domains. This was on Sunday June 31st 2019 at Mansfield Plaza Hotel, Ayaba Street during the 3rd edition of the yearly Youth Motivational Award organised by Young Citizens Contributing Positively (YOCICOPO), a subsidiary of FOMBILLION, a vertically integrated creativity company, creating and providing diversified cultural solutions that add value to brands, minds and lifestyles.

Ndasi Gilbert, Laureate

As a company involved in the media business, Fombillion has been very observant on who is doing what within the Bamenda metropolis. To come out with the final laureates, a judging panel was put in place to investigate through a close and confidential background checks. "We take time to know who is who and see how well they fit into our criteria before choosing a winner for a particular thing they're doing" said Armstrong Fombi, Founder and Group CEO of Fombillion. The award ceremony should have involved youths from the other divisions within the region if not of the ongoing Anglophone crisis that's greatly hindering the smooth functioning of life with the North West and South West regions of Cameroon. "The name YOCICOPO means Young Citizens Contributing Positively. So, it's about citizens of the country and not only Banenda but  because of the warring situation, it's difficult to go beyond Bamenda and we have to sustain the event" added Armstrong Fombi. 

Armstrong Fombi, C.E.O & Group Founder, Fombillion

The laureates were awarded for their good works in fields like agriculture, photography, ICT, motivational speaking, choreography, activism, civil service and many other spheres. Ndasi Gilbert Nyongamsen, a reporter for the Christian Broadcasting Service, CBS Radio Bamenda was recognised for his good works in Peace Journalism. In his acceptance speech, he said; "In my profession, I kept asking myself, what can I do to be different? And so I carved a niche in the concept of peace journalism which is reporting to construct".

He went on to address his colleagues in the profession by saying, "The day you report and two people start quarreling, fighting, stop journalism. The day you report and people pick up  machetes or burn houses, stop journalism. All this because you must be able to protect and preserve the spaces in which you practice  whatever activity." He ended by thanking the awarding body for recognising his efforts in reporting to construct by giving another narrative to the people to understand that the best way to survive is not by taking up arms, insults and hate speech but understanding, tolerance and respect for humanity.

Cross Section of Laureates 

Other awardees were:

Cynthia Wakuna - Motivational Speaker & Human Rights Activist

Oliver Nshom - Motivational Speaker & Leadership Coach

Melvin Songwe Shuye - Youth Trainer & Talent Promoter

Kingsley Sumba Mbanwei - Entertainment & Marketing

Akoh Bruce Ebiko - Agriculture

Ambe Standley Chenwi - Agriculture 

The ceremony ended with a call on the laureates not to sleep on their laurels and be full of themselves but rather take the recognition as a motivation to do better.