Cameroon: Paul Biya’s message on Youth Day, President inspires youths to indulge in agriculture


Devdiscourse News Desk | Yaoundé | Updated: 11-02-2020 18:31 IST | Created: 11-02-2020 18:31 IST
Cameroon: Paul Biya’s message on Youth Day, President inspires youths to indulge in agriculture
Paul Biya urged his young countrymen to take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves to those who want to invest in local governance. Image Credit: Facebook / Paul Biya
  • Country:
  • Cameroon

The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya took the opportunity of 54th National Youth Day for addressing the youths. The Head of State encouraged them to indulge in agriculture to reduce unemployment.

Speaking on Monday evening, Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya urged his young countrymen to take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves to those who want to invest in local governance. He extolled the new legal and administrative framework in this area, presenting decentralization as ‘a veritable peaceful revolution’ that meets aspirations Cameroonians to better participate in the management of local affairs.

“Very recently, in my message to the Nation, I told you that the current seven-year term would be decisive. Of course, I was thinking about our achieving emerging economy status by 2035, which would validate the strides we have made in terms of democracy and economic and social progress. Well, I believe that the situation is proving me right,” Paul Biya addressed the youth, Journal du Cameroun reported. “There was a need to address, as a priority, the long-pending issue of implementation of decentralization. The Major National Dialogue paved the way for adoption, by Parliament, of the General Code of Regional and Local Authorities and a law which guarantees the use of English and French on an equal footing. Without delay, I promulgated these instruments into law,” he added.

Affirming that the objective of his regime remains the establishment of a peaceful, democratic, just and prosperous society, he said that the authorities were emphasizing the development of the education system, which ‘will continue to be the subject of particular attention from the government’ and which, all types of education combined, represent approximately the 7th of state expenditure in terms of budgetary allocations in 2020.

The celebration of the holiday reflects awareness and recognition of youth significance for the country, and comes two days after an election overshadowed by a partial opposition boycott and separatist violence that displaced hundreds of thousands in the region.

Referring to the violence in schools, marked in particular by the recent murder in the capital, Yaoundé, of a young math teacher by one of his pupils, he described it as ‘an act, barely believable, [which] says a lot about the excesses of our modern societies’. And to appeal to parents, men of religion and teachers so that, thanks to the education they provide, such facts cannot happen again. ‘I also ask you to reflect on what happened, to assess its seriousness and to make a commitment to never commit such acts,’ he added to his young compatriots.

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