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51 Youth and Nation-Building in Cameroon 5 President Ahidjo’s National Youth Day Messages: 1968-1982 5.1: Address by President of the Republic to the Youths of Cameroon on the Occasion of the 3rd National Youth Day, Yaounde, 10 February 1968 Theme: “Youth and Responsibility” Boys and Girls of Cameroon, My young fellow citizens, It is my great pleasure to express to you the heartfelt wishes of the Nation on the occasion of this Youth Day which is your own festival. This does not mean simply expressing the joy and pride that all Cameroonian fathers and mothers feel in having brought into the world a healthy, a strong and dynamic youth. It means above all living together in periodic communion and reflection on our mutual responsibilities in this great adventure that we are living and which is called national construction. Building a Nation means transforming mentalities, overcoming inertia, opening hearts and minds to this dynamic solidarity and this awareness of a common destiny without which the Nation could not fulfil its mission of emancipating individuals and collective civilization. Building a Nations means also marshalling all available resources and energies to edify a society that offers to each and all the minimum conditions for existence compatible with human dignity. This is to say that, in the long run, the success of national construction, whilst it implies a strict planning of resources and efforts, depends above all on our desire for progress, our capacity to place ourselves in the service of the community, in a word our faculty for enthusiasm and devotion to duty. And who better than the youth who contemplate the world with new eyes and a mind that is receptive to the solicitation of change, who better, I say, than youth whose will for progress is not yet curbed by the crippling burden of prejudice, is capable of this enthusiasm, this devotion, this faith that is essential to the success of great design? Young citizens of Cameroon, when we tell you, as we have repeatedly done in the past, that you are the Nation’s future, that we place our hopes in you, it is precisely because we want you to become conscious of your special responsibilities towards the Nation. You are young, this means that, departing from the context of regional particularism, you must be the incompressible leaven of National Unity. You are young, this also means that, having the opportunity to benefit from modern knowledge, you must be the spear-head of the country’s progress. 52 Churchill Ewumbue-Monono You are young, this again means that you must, in town or country, place in the Nation’s service that capital of drive and enthusiasm which is a property of youth. You are young, this means finally that the future of the Nation will be in your image, that tomorrow will be made of the stuff you have woven today, that the seeds of the present are unfailingly preparing the harvest to come. This is a particularly heavy responsibility to burden your young shoulders.Through the accidents of history, you have been born in a country that has need of you to fulfil itself. This situation has created for you constraints and obligations at an age when one is generally unrestricted and care-free. But what an opportunity this is to dedicate yourselves to a great cause, to feel that you are useful. Serve your country, therefore, with serious intent and discipline! Deploy your enthusiasm and devotion in all the battles that are preparing the Nation’s future, which is above all your future! In this way, and this way only, will you raise yourselves to the dignity of men, of free and responsible men who are masters of their own destiny. It is our duty to prepare you to assume your responsibilities as men. The constant development of general and technical education in our country, the creation of the University, the extension of youth centres, pioneer villages and cultural centres as well as the development of sports facilities and the promotion of youth movements, bear witness to the government’s determination not to fail in its highest mission, that of training today the men and women who tomorrow will take over and continue, with the greatest chance of success, the work begun under often difficult conditions. It would be a serious mistake, however, to think this task of training is the responsibility of the State alone. Man’s education is not confined only to...

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