By George Arrey Agbor (The Post, Monday, January 11, 2010)
Three more Cameroonians have benefited from the UK Government through the Chevening grants for the 2010 scheme. The three laureates were presented to the public during a send-off party January 07 at the residence of the British High Commissioner to Cameroon in Yaounde.
Chevening Scholars (from left to right) Sona Peter, George Ngwane and John Ngando
They include; George Ngwane, Executive Director of AFRICAphonie, a pan-African NGO based in Buea, Peter Sona, Senior Police Superintendent of the Directorate of the Frontier Police in Yaounde and John Ngando, a politician and member of the Alliance of Progressive Forces party, who is based in Limbe.
George Ngwane will study Conflict Resolution and Prevention at the University of York, Peter Sona will update his skills in the area of Controlling and Managing Migrations at the University of Sussex while John Ngando will learn how to use Democracy for Peace at the University of Bradford. All the courses last for three months.
Speaking during the ceremony, the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Bharat Joshi, congratulated the laureates for having succeeded in winning the Chevening Scholarship. He disclosed that the British High Commission received thousands of applications for this year's scheme and after a very rigorous screening exercise and a series of interviews; the three were selected.
Bharat declared that the UK will always support the Cameroonian government in areas of democracy, conflict resolution and management as well as managing migrations. He called on the three beneficiaries to return home in three months with necessary knowledge that will help the Cameroonian society in their various domains.
Speaking on behalf of the Government of Cameroon, the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of External Relations in charge of the Commonwealth, Dr Dion Ngute, also a Chevening scholar, lauded the excellent relations that exist between Cameroon and the UK. He thanked the British Government for offering such scholarships in strategic fields. He advised the laureates to work hard to merit the grant.
One of the laureates, George Ngwane thanked the British Government for granting him the opportunity to study Conflict Management. He said his organisation's (AFRICAphonie) objective is to promote sustainable peace and harmony in the Bakassi Peninsula. To this effect, he expressed the wish that one day Bakassi shall be transformed from a conflict community to a peaceful constituency. He disclosed that his association recently organised peace building workshops in the localities of Akwa 1 and 2 in Bakassi.
Prominent amongst former Chevening Alumni that came to bid farewell to the laureates were CRTV Journalists, Ephraim Banda Ghogomu and John Abongwa Tantoh.
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