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7 Youth and Nation-Building in Cameroon 2 Youth Policy and the Youth Day in Cameroon: 1949-2009 The development of a policy and institutional foundations for youth governance in Cameroon have closely followed the various stages of the country’s political history: the colonial period (1949-1960), the federation period (1961-1972), the Ahidjo Unitary State period (1972-1982), the One-Party Democracy New Deal period (1982-1992), and the period of the New Democratic Order (1992-2009). 2.1: The Colonial Period: 1960-1960 Prior to independence, the management of youth affairs depended on the colonial policies of the various administering authorities to which the Anglophone and Francophone sections of the country were subjected to. In Anglophone Cameroon, which was administered by the British between 1922 and 1960 as an integral part of Nigeria, the management of youth affairs was attached to the Ministry of Education. As part of its responsibility to prepare the people for nationhood, the British colonial administration created a Youth Training Centre at Man’O War Bay, near Victoria, to train young men from all over Nigeria on the ideals of citizenship, leadership and community development. The success of the Man’O War Youth Training Centre in preparing the youth in the entire Nigeria was spelt out by the Nigerian Federal Minister for Education Hon. Jaja Nwanchukwu during his visit to the Centre between April 18 and 20 1958, in which he revealed that the Man’O War Training Centre had trained 2,000 students since its creation. Most of the graduates of this Centre became the first-generation prominent local and national leaders in the Nigerian Federation.3 With the emergence of some form of self-government in Southern Cameroons in 1954, youth governance was still maintained under the Ministry of Education, headed by F.N. Ajebe-Sone (1954-1957), and later, by the Ministry of Social Services headed by V. Lainjo (1958-1959), and A.N Jua (1959-1961). In Francophone Cameroon, the management of youth affairs was under the Service for Youth and Sports, in the Ministry of Education, which between 1954 and 1960 was regulated by Order N°3959 of 27 July 1954 on the general organization, attribution and functioning of the Service for Youth and Sports, in the Ministry of Education. With independence in 1960, and the creation of the presidential system, the administration of youth matters was transferred to Presidency by Decree 60/70 of 1960, under a Secretariat for Youth, Sports and Information headed variously by Simon Songue (1959), Gabriel Ndibo Mbarsola (1960), and William Eteki Mboumoua. 3. One of the outstanding trainees of the Man’O War Training Centre is the Hon. W.N.O Effiom who has exercised considerable political leadership in post-independent Cameroon, serving as an MP, Cabinet Member, Speaker, and Grand Chancellor. 8 Churchill Ewumbue-Monono The pre-independence period was also marked by the growth of a number of politically-motivated youth movements, many of which were clamouring for independence and the reunification of the country. In Francophone Cameroon, such movements included the Jeunesse Camerounaise Française (JEUCAFRA) created in 1938, followed by others like the Jeunesse Democrates du Cameroun (JDC), the Jeunesse des Populations du Kamerun (JUPOKAM), the Jeunesse Ouvriere du Cameroun (JOC) created in 1954, and the Jeunesse Rurale du Cameroun (JEURUCA) created in 1959. In Anglophone Cameroon, youth organizations started with the introduction of the Boys Scouts in the territory in 1924, in which school masters like P.M. Kale militated. In effect, it was during a Scouts jamboree in Lagos that Kale came across most of the Nigerian politicians and activists who influenced the creation of the Cameroon Youth League (CYL) in 1939 as the first real nationalist movement in the territory. Apart from the CYL, a number of politically-motivated youth organizations sprouted in Anglophone Cameroon like the Bakweri Youth Association (BYA) led by Fred Mbwaye, the Bamenda Youth Association (BYA) led by J.A. Fominyen, and the National Union of Kamerun Students (NUKS), which served as the basis for aggregation into political parties. 2.2: The Federation Period: 1961-1972 In 1961, the Anglophone and Francophone sections of Cameroon were reunified and consolidated in a two-state federation which lasted until 1972. During this period, youth governance evolved into a federal subject. This evolution occurred in two phases. The first phase, “the General Commissariat Phase” lasted between 1962 and 1965 and was devoted to institutional development. During this first phase, a number of efforts were...

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