Governance of July 10, 2024 on CRTV
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00:00Hello and welcome, a professional training institution in the southwest region smiles
00:11over a presidential largesse.
00:13The Advanced Vocational Training Center, LIMBE, spin-off of the South Korea-Cameroon cooperation
00:19has since 2016 become another source of hope, crystallizing the professional dreams of young
00:26Cameroonians who see in vocational training employment opportunities a future.
00:32Ngo Emmanuel Osiyaka, director of the center, joins his trainees in celebrating Paul Beer's
00:39ordering of a reduction of the fees from 500,000 to 50,000 CFE francs.
00:47Governance and follow-up, welcome to the program.
00:57Welcome again.
01:00Nine training workshops and a 250 training capacity are the offers of the AVTC LIMBE
01:07under the stewardship of Ngo Emmanuel Osiyaka, mechanical engineer, impacting the institution
01:14with training from South Korea.
01:17He shows us around the campus right after this.
01:27The director of the LIMBE Advanced Vocational Training Center, Mr. Ngo Emmanuel Osiyaka.
01:35Welcome to the CRTV.
01:36Thank you very much.
01:37I'm glad to be here.
01:39We're glad to be on your campus, breezy and clean, I should say.
01:43LIMBE Advanced Vocational Training Center has a peculiarity, it's attractive both inside
01:48and outside, with its imposing infrastructure and a spacious environment.
01:54Look at how natural it is, look at how beautiful it is.
01:57It is welcoming.
01:58We can see.
01:59You don't need to tell us, Mr. Director.
02:01Anyway, we remember this institution graduated a batch recently.
02:07Am I correct?
02:08Oh, yes, sir.
02:09We organized a cumulative graduation on the 18th of March, 2023.
02:15Cumulative in the sense that five batches of trainees that we had trained from the inception
02:21had not gone out of training in an official ceremony.
02:26So it was a heavy landmark for us to combine all of that and organize a cumulative graduation
02:34with the authorization of our minister, the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training,
02:40His Excellency Issa Chiroma Bakari.
02:43It was a very big occasion.
02:44I'm saying so because I'm looking at this space.
02:46How was this place occupied?
02:48Because there is green space.
02:50Tell us how big the event was.
02:53So big in that we graduated 391 trainees who were all holders of the specialized technician
03:03diploma certified by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training and a large crowd
03:10of sympathizers.
03:11A very big occasion indeed.
03:14So I see the buildings I see here, most of them are workshops.
03:17About how many of them?
03:18We have nine workshops.
03:20If you don't mind, let me name them.
03:22Yeah, the functional specialties we train here are office automation, computer systems
03:28and network maintenance, hotel management and catering, refrigeration and air conditioning,
03:34electrical engineering, plumbing and piping, welding and boiler making, mechanical production
03:41and woodwork.
03:43All these workshops are hyper-equipped with ultra-modern equipment.
03:49So there is everything that makes our training, our center, hands on.
03:54Wow.
03:55The Advanced Vocational Training Center, LIMBE, was officially opened in 2016, am I correct?
04:01You are right, sir.
04:03Yeah.
04:04It was inaugurated on December 17, 2016, by the then Prime Minister, His Excellency Philemon
04:13Yang.
04:14But before then, in June of that same year, 2016, the then Minister of Employment and
04:21Vocational Training, His Excellency Zachary Pereve, received the center from the hands
04:27of the Korean experts.
04:29As you see, the infrastructure is Korean, the architecture is Korean.
04:34So the transfer of technology from Korea to Cameroon is present in LIMBE Advanced Vocational
04:40Training Center.
04:41And I hear even the training was Korean at the beginning?
04:45Yes, sir.
04:46The pioneer batch of trainees was trained in the Republic of South Korea.
04:52And I am grateful to hierarchy that I was equally among those who were trained.
04:57We were in South Korea for 90 days.
05:02So we, so to say, transported Korean technology to Cameroon, because we use the same equipment
05:12as they are here.
05:14The same pedagogy, the same approach, and we know the stakes.
05:19That is exactly the vision from the onset of LIMBE Advanced Vocational Training Center,
05:25along with the others in Douala and Sangmejina.
05:29What is the difference that you, as someone who benefited from that training, what is
05:34the difference between the training you acquired in South Korea and the training others acquired
05:40outside South Korea?
05:43What to you is the difference?
05:44Because we're talking about what the trainees here are benefiting.
05:47Okay.
05:48Those who were trained outside South Korea.
05:51In other places?
05:52Yes.
05:53Maybe in other countries, maybe even in Cameroon?
05:55Yes.
05:56What is the age?
05:57I can't major on that, but let me just tell you the particularity of training in South
06:02Korea.
06:03South Korea is among those countries that has reached the level of technological advancement
06:09on account of its emphasis on vocational training.
06:14So vocational training is rating high in the Republic of South Korea, to the point that
06:20it is emerging as a world power in terms of technology.
06:23So the particularity is the commitment of the people to answer the question, what can
06:30you do?
06:33So if vocational training answers the question, what can you do?
06:36We saw the people committed, and one of the things with them is that they are multi-talented.
06:42The same person is doing electricity, the same person is doing welding, the same person
06:46has skills in plumbing.
06:48Oh, they are a very diversified group of people.
06:52So is that the kind of idea, the kind of training that is being tailored in your vocational
06:57training, giving young Cameroonians the multidimensional capacities to face the situation?
07:02Right, sir.
07:03In Limbe Advanced Vocational Training Center, there is an aspect of diversified training.
07:12During the training courses, we make a schedule in which trainees from one workshop can choose
07:22another workshop, and they are trained in the same training year, so that by the time
07:29they leave here, they are on the advantage on account of the fact that they have more
07:35than one skill.
07:37In the world that is competitive like our own, you are on the advantage if you are multi-skilled.
07:45That's what we're doing in Limbe Advanced Vocational Training Center.
07:53As you heard at the beginning of this program, most of the trainers of this institution were
07:58trained in South Korea.
08:01Impacting their knowledge here makes all the difference in trainings offered here.
08:06Let's hear from trainees of the hotel and catering department in this voc spot.
08:12My objectives of coming to Advanced Vocational Training Center Limbe, which is a vocational
08:16school, was to avoid the fact of looking for a job, for being a job hunter.
08:22My objectives was to be a job creator.
08:24I have acquired a lot of knowledge, personal skills, that is helping me a lot to boost
08:29my career.
08:30This is a passion for me to be a chef, to work in the hospitality industry, it's a passion
08:35for me, and I'm actually seeing that passion becoming a reality after being in this school
08:40for a period of one year.
08:42I did my first year internship at a skinny hotel, Limbe, no publicity, and I left the
08:47internship with good recommendations.
08:50So I'm so grateful for the Advanced Vocational Training Center for transforming me because
08:54it's actually a transformation for me.
08:57I didn't come here this way, now I can do a lot of things in the hospitality industry.
09:01I've developed a lot of skills here, I've developed communication skills, orientation
09:05skills.
09:06We also attended the tourism fair.
09:08We are being open to the world, and we are also exposed to a lot of job opportunities
09:13while still undergoing training.
09:16Also it's a lot of advantage for me, and I'm so grateful for the head of state for
09:19reducing the school fee.
09:21Last year I paid a higher amount, and this year, out of a great surprise, the school
09:25fee has been reduced, and I'm so grateful.
09:26It's helping me to go a long way, buy other equipment that facilitates my training.
09:32Hotel management has been my passion since from childhood, and I'm very fortunate to
09:36be in this school.
09:37I can say I'm blessed to be here, thanks to the head of state for the reduction of fees,
09:44instead of 500,000, we are paying 50,000, which is very good for a youth like myself
09:49to use this opportunity to grab skills that can assist me tomorrow in my future career.
09:56I think I can come out from this school with a lot of skills.
10:00From the few months that we have been here, at least I have gathered some skills that
10:03I can open my own business.
10:06I can equally train some people, some young Cameroonians tomorrow, if I leave this school
10:12with the skills that I acquired here, I think I can train some more Cameroonians to follow
10:16my footsteps, because I discovered that customer service in our country is lacking.
10:20So Advanced Vocational Training Center in Limbe is one of the best schools in Cameroon
10:24that can help to train people on customer service.
10:29But in all of this, Mr. Director, Mr. Ngoe, Emmanuel Oseake, the numbers have not been
10:35up, as expected.
10:38This institution, like you rightly said, with nine training workshops, has the capacity
10:44of close to 300 trainees.
10:47Let me begin by saying that I am actually Ngoe Emmanuel Oseake, I am not Oseake, I know
10:53it's a slip of the tongue, it's Oseake.
10:58When we began in 2017-2018 training year, in fact it's on record that the number of
11:08trainees in Limbe Advanced Vocational Training Center was impressive.
11:13No, I'm going to cut in, sorry.
11:16This institution was, I'm sure it was completed by 2015, but there was a period where it was
11:23like abandoned.
11:25No activity was going on here between 2015 when works construction was complete and maybe
11:322016.
11:33What explains that?
11:34I know you were not here at the time as director.
11:36I wasn't a director, but I was a pioneer trainer at the time.
11:41Now this is the strategy of the government, the buildings were completed, the equipment
11:50was done.
11:51Now it needed now qualified manpower, qualified manpower.
11:57So while the buildings were there and the machines were there, it needed manpower to
12:02handle this.
12:03To be sincere with you, it will take people who understand what vocational training is
12:10to do vocational training.
12:12So we benefited from the largest of the state and 78 Cameroonian experts were sent to South
12:23Korea.
12:24Including you.
12:25Including me.
12:26Thank you very much for reminding me.
12:27Okay.
12:28Yeah.
12:29To South Korea for the simple fact of laying our hands on the existential reality of vocational
12:35training.
12:36That's what accounted for that space.
12:38It was not abandoned, so to speak.
12:40All right.
12:41Now we're talking about the first intake.
12:46Before the first intake, official intake, when the qualified manpower returned to Cameroon,
12:52there was a period of a trial training to test the functionality of the equipment.
12:59Of course, to put also the ingenuity we just came with from South Korea to practice.
13:05So we did trial training during which we are certain that the center was ready to go operational.
13:15And the year 2017, 2018, we began training along with other centers.
13:22You're watching Governance and Follow-Up.
13:24We are hosting the director of the Limbe Advanced Vocational Training Center.
13:29Among the specialties offered here, the ICT, the information and communications technology.
13:41One of the trainees is proud to talk to us.
13:44Hear him.
13:45I'm so much happy because when I came to the center, I was thinking it's a lot of theory,
13:50but no.
13:51To my greatest surprise, it's more practical.
13:54So far we deal on basic electronics networking and computer networking, and it's so much
14:01enjoyable.
14:03So far, I can say now I know how to create programs.
14:08We deal on cyber security, protecting people's companies, industries.
14:14Not just that, but I thank the head of state so much because I was in pains when the fees
14:21was about 500,000 francs.
14:23But I don't know, I can say really God speaks and God listens and answer prayers.
14:28The school fees now is just 50,000 francs.
14:30It's a very great and awesome opportunity.
14:33So I will leave this center, not just leaving the center with knowledge, but at least I'm
14:38leaving the center with physically I do things with my hands.
14:43And not just that, I want to work in my country.
14:45I want to serve.
14:46I want to bring this technology that was being brought from the Koreans.
14:50I want it to spread because in Africa, in my country, we need more of IT.
14:57And I know that it's a three-year program.
14:58Is it three years?
14:59No sir.
15:00Training?
15:01What is it?
15:02At the time we started, training was one year.
15:04Okay.
15:05Only one year.
15:06Okay.
15:07The requirement for entry from the, on the part of the trainees was the advanced level
15:12and the equivalence is baccalaureate.
15:15People who come to Limba Advanced Vocational Training Center must be holders of the advanced
15:19level certificates.
15:20Now, at the time, training was one year and we trained from 2017 to 2022, a period of
15:31five years, one year.
15:34Okay.
15:35During this one year, there were some clear realities.
15:40The clear realities were in some sort of challenges we face.
15:45The major challenge was a low intake of trainees.
15:50The numbers dropped from what they used to be in the first batch to something quite insignificant.
15:56So in the wisdom of hierarchy, there was something to do in order to change the tides.
16:05When we began in 2017, we were about 150 trainees.
16:10That was an impressive number to start with.
16:13But that year did not go smoothly with us because at the time our trainees were ready
16:21for end-of-course exams, the socio-political crisis were a fever hit.
16:31We deported the group of that 150 trainees or more to our sister center in Douala where
16:38they took the end-of-course exams.
16:40Graciously, our trainees performed so well and they were all declared successful at that
16:47year's end-of-course exams and they were certified with a specialized technician diploma.
16:54The years that followed, 2018, 2019, were not too smooth like the first year.
17:02We're already talking about the impact of the socio-political crisis on an institution
17:06like this that is found in the crisis region.
17:09Exactly.
17:10The spilloffs of the crisis were so severe, young people had gone to safer zones.
17:20So much so that when the training was to begin in October, our doors were not open.
17:25The trainers were ready, but there were no trainees.
17:28We intensified publicity mechanisms and we opened our doors only two months later in
17:33December with an enrollment of 33.
17:38Enrollment number 33 remained constant until the end.
17:43We took the end-of-course exams.
17:45What is peculiar about us is that our trainees have always passed 100%.
17:51We thank God for that.
17:53Are you the ones organizing these exams?
17:55Because this could be done with your own, how do you call that, the favors that you
18:01enable your trainees to pass.
18:04Tell us the nature of the organization and how they're organized.
18:07What if it's not being organized on your campus here?
18:09It is a national end-of-course examination.
18:14It is organized by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training and taken nationwide.
18:20That's the exam is called?
18:22The Specialized Technician Diploma Exam, yeah, the Specialized Technician Diploma Exam.
18:28It is taken nationwide.
18:30Now, it has nothing to do with the favors of the trainers, of course, that is the last
18:37of the things that people who are level-headed should do, because we put to the market people
18:44who should solve problems.
18:46You favor them on the exams and they are misfits in society, you are not doing the country
18:50any good.
18:52So it is organized by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training and taken nationwide.
18:58It means that the same centers in Douala and Saint-Denis also take the same exam and we
19:05have always had 100%.
19:07I think that it is thanks to the commitment to do just what we were sent here to do.
19:14Wow.
19:15I was going to ask you, you started off here as a trainer in the welding department and
19:21today you are director and you are a mechanical engineer by training.
19:27So I was going to ask that nuance, is it easy to leave the classroom or the workshop and
19:32get into the administrative office?
19:35How challenging that transition?
19:38How are you able, don't you think some colleagues who are in the workshop still see you as equal?
19:45How do you, are you able to manage discipline in an institution where you are a lower category
19:51staff, now you are the managing staff?
19:54The advantage in that process is that you get to know the reality of vocational training.
20:02As a trainer, as a trainer, I know what vocational training is all about.
20:07If training is defective, the center ceases to exist.
20:11So I am one of the staff who has begun from the workshop, not classroom, workshop, yes,
20:20workshops, from the workshops, negotiating the twists and turns of the workshops, then
20:26hierarchy entrusted me with the responsibility as head of department for pedagogic affairs
20:32and evaluation.
20:34That I began coordinating now from the office, the work of training, coordinating training
20:39from the office.
20:41So I began getting acquainted to the different facets of operationalization of the center.
20:51And I still am humbled that the opportunity was given to me to serve in the capacity as
20:59director.
21:00Now having known what it is to be in the workshop, having known what it is to coordinate training,
21:07I am now coordinating not just training, but the entire center, including human resource,
21:14including material resources.
21:16We said the school has the capacity of 270 trainees, right?
21:21270, at full capacity.
21:24And then the staff strength?
21:25Do you have enough staff that is equal to that number?
21:30Let me begin from the vision from the beginning.
21:36From the beginning till now, the workshops have a capacity of 30 trainees a session.
21:45So when the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, His Excellency Issa Chiroma Bakari,
21:51opens the competitive entrance exam into advanced vocational training centers, of which Limbe
21:58is one.
21:59Limbe is the baby of them all.
22:02In terms of?
22:03In terms of duration.
22:05No, these centers all began on the same day.
22:08Oh, okay.
22:09On the same day.
22:10I see.
22:11Maybe, maybe in terms of numbers, and I will tell you, we're getting somewhere.
22:14Okay.
22:15Okay.
22:16So when the Minister of Employment and Vocational opens entrance exams, he limits the number
22:22of admitted cases to 30, a workshop.
22:25That's the capacity of the workshop.
22:27And each workshop from the inception was endowed with three trainers.
22:33Now, three trainers to 30 trainees is a very important ratio.
22:38The ratio is such that one trainer will supervise 10 trainees.
22:44Do you know the quality that is guaranteed by this very high ratio?
22:48That is vocational training.
22:50Mr. Emmanuel Nguye, government and the Republic of Korea can't put in this much in terms of
22:58equipment I see here, and we don't have the numbers.
23:04Besides the crisis, do you think people are getting to know what the importance of vocational
23:11training in this part of the country?
23:13There are two things I would just want to point out to you, which appear as major impediments
23:20from the onset.
23:22Keeping aside the fact that we're in a zone which is rocked by crisis, and a majority
23:29of young people went to suffer places, it affected our intake.
23:34Another odious task was that training at the Limba Advanced Vocational Training Center
23:40used to be 500,000.
23:42I mean 500,000.
23:44It took a whole fortune to train an individual in Limba Advanced Vocational Training Centers.
23:52500,000 CFE francs?
23:54CFE francs.
23:55That is to say the first Vepounia trainees of this institution paid that?
23:59Five batches.
24:00Five batches.
24:01Wow.
24:02Yes, five batches paid 500,000 francs.
24:05You know, vocational training is expensive because...
24:09How is that?
24:10Government has put in the equipment.
24:12How expensive can it be?
24:14Vocational training is expensive because training nature is not cognitive in character.
24:23It is psychomotor.
24:25That is for you to say you have done vocational training, there must be the training materials.
24:31You know, training materials, the prices of them are on the rise in the markets.
24:36I don't need to get into those details, but you understand what I'm talking about.
24:40For you to do vocational training, you must be doing it.
24:44That is what makes it expensive.
24:47So these two factors, the crisis and the high cost of it,
24:52did not make it accessible to a large number of average Cameroonians.
24:57Hierarchy became interested in these two impediments
25:00because our statistics were showing that the center was still underutilized.
25:07Now, by the wisdom of hierarchy, this is what the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training has done.
25:13Number one, the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training
25:17has raised the training duration from one year to two years.
25:22I want to thank you so much for your time on this program,
25:26which is ending even before we exhaust the Advanced Vocational Training Center in Limbe.
25:32Your message to the parents, in one sentence, and your message to government.
25:38To the parents, the head of state is stretching a hand to everybody to build the nation.
25:46And vocational training is the pathway to nation building.
25:52The time where we relegated it is over.
25:56It is now open to everybody.
25:59To the government, it's a message of appreciation.
26:04A message of appreciation.
26:06I received a delegation from Zimbabwe some time ago.
26:11Then they saw the investment of the government in things like this.
26:16They attested to me that they don't have facilities that Cameroon has.
26:21I am very proud of the initiative of the government
26:25to make Cameroon a land of promise indeed.
26:29That's the message I have for the government.
26:31We are very thankful.
26:33Thank you very much, Mr. Ngoe Emmanuel Osiyaka.
26:37Thank you, sir.
26:38Welcome, and we wish you every good luck in this school.
26:43Thank you so much.
26:44You're welcome.
26:46Governance and follow-up stop and end.
26:50Thank you for watching this edition.
26:52See you again.
26:54Bye.