Personality of The Week - Ngah Christian Mbipgo: The Guardian Post Publisher.

Historic characters have walked the earth across different epochs, leaving lasting legacies that have continued to shape humanity. This explains the continuous impact of certain personalities, even when they have taken leave of the earth.

It is on the strength of such uncommon exploits that names like the late Nelson Mandela, former South African President and anti-apartheid icon; Rev. Martin Lurther King Jr; late American Baptist Pastor and Indian lawyer, politician and social critic, Mahatma Ghandhi, have remained present in the psyche of successive generations. 

These persons are no longer alive but the fashion, extend and the virgin nature of their achievements, have given them everlasting presence of sorts.

Like these global figures, an uncommon happening hit our newsroom between Tuesday night and sun up Thursday August 31. It was a cross section of millions of readers of The Guardian Post, who set our intercom, mail and personal coordinates of senior staff on fire.

These reactions trailed a publication that informed the world that The Guardian Post, has stood the test of time for 22 years and still counting.  Having digested the thorny, yet inspiring story behind The Guardian Post and its present glory, our readers settled for the man calling the shots at the media empire, Ngah Christian Mbipgo, as the prime character for this season.

Even amid attempts to downplay such popular assessment, our readers, who have their presence across the six continents of the globe are still unbending that, given the road The Guardian Post has covered in 22 years, Ngah, is not just a rare breed but a man with an uncommon mantle, affecting humanity through journalism and media entrepreneurship.

Our readers are categorical and aptly so that, at a time when most of what is heard of the media industry in Cameroon remains disappointing, Ngah, a publicity-shy and quiet individual, deserves popular elevation for his record-breaking achievements in Cameroon’s turbulent media landscape. 

On this score, they have elevated him to the hall of fame of Cameroon’s Personality of This Week, on this revered column of The Guardian Post, which till date remains the undisputed apex of print media journalism in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC, Subregion. 

Your Personality of The Week, our readers say, must be celebrated for not only being a self-made man but proving in ‘billions’ of ways that, irrespective of how low life starts off with one, it is possible to hit the skies and outshine champions without pulling anyone down.

Ngah, who has never ceased telling whoever cares to listen that what has happened to The Guardian Post newspaper in 22 years and still counting is a miracle, admirers say, himself, is a higher miracle.

As historic, phenomenal and astronomical as Ngah’s achievements have been, he has remained a matchless role model to many across different disciplines. This has thus raised his intelligence to a level of its own.

But what can intelligence without hard work, tenacity and the energy do to surmount the most bizarre and arid of circumstances?

The story and trajectory of Your Personality of The Week is not just that of the good, the bad and the ugly but, an account of a man with an uncommon destiny, who has survived what has killed many and pushed others out of destiny.

Born to a pastor of the Cameroon Baptist Convention, CBC, Ngah, who has in just 22 years of boisterous and lucid media management, walked his way to become a national, Subregional and global brand, did not enjoy the luxury of parenthood. He lost his mother just two hours after he was delivered!

The Ngah Christian today moving mountains and rewriting Cameroon’s media history, passed through hell but removed every trace of the deplorable days of his childhood. 

He was rejected by even close relatives but he learned on the God his father introduced him to, humility, hard work and his God-given intelligence to see a path where others have been seeing walls.

Today, Ngah is shining on the columns of the same newspaper he created in 2001, not because he owns it but on the wings of eagles for the meritorious and impactful pulse of his presence in the media landscape.

In 22 years since creating The Guardian Post newspaper, Ngah has remained on a record-breaking spree for the right reasons. 

From being a weekly to bi-weekly and publishing three times weekly, many did not see Ngah coming. Yet, few years down the road, the story is being told of a media giant and genius of many positive colours, who created the first English language daily newspaper in Cameroon.

But that’s not all, the reserved, yet workaholic Ngah has to his towering legacy as a media entrepreneur, the record of also being the only Cameroonian running a newspaper that publishes every day from Monday to Sunday.

He is also the pioneer in the entire CEMAC Subregion who publishes a newspaper seven times a week-Monday to Sunday. 

The seven times a week score sheet, has to it the addition of publishing The Guardian Post in full colour, a modern printing press and the best work environment for staff across CEMAC.

His newspaper, The Guardian Post, is the first and only print media house in Cameroon that is hosted in its own constructed structure.

With the inauguration of The Guardian Post Washinton-USA Bureau, in July 2022, Ngah remains the only Cameroonian newspaper publisher with an oversea office. 

That Ngah has a penchant for excellence, quality, professional probity and objectivity is traced across his over 27 years of intimidating journalism practice. 

He has fashioned himself into the good books of media stakeholders, civil society and leaders across the globe as personality of many good sheds but also as an employer who has never owed his staff.

Since creation in 2001, Ngah makes sure staff at The Guardian Post don’t go beyond the 25^th of every month without their salaries. In essence, there is nothing like salary arrears at The Guardian Post, since its creation. Many say this is a rare occurrence in the Cameroon private media landscape.

Like his name Christian, Ngah, has across the years shown not just ordinary love but the love of God to his staff and those around him.

With his catalogue of legacies telling of a global bequest that is being weaved with a Cameroonian identity, Ngah is a selfless man. 

His ingenuity in keeping The Guardian Post afloat at a time when many are parking out of the media space is among fresh courses shaping journalism training within Cameroon and beyond.

If fire is the test of gold as it is often being said, admirers say Your Personality of The Week is gold of the highest order, given the hurdles he has passed through.

While many have scored goals in life, thanks to superb passes from others, Ngah’s story is a bit intriguing in that, he cuts the exact image of a man who has scored several goals without receiving a pass from someone. 

For those who have been looking at Ngah’s successes and just daydreaming, those familiar with his story say, he has in abundance the virtue of consistency in crowning hard work to standout. 

In 22 years and still counting of managing The Guardian Post, Ngah has defined his reality and is successfully dismantling every blockade on his path.

Many have repeatedly described him as a hero whose achievements will remain unending for the rest of his life. He has the personality and passion of a compatriot who, though in the private sector, always believes there is some growth mark to hit and live the moments and exploiting the best from it.

With a background that doesn’t tie to who he has become today, Ngah, our readers say, is sending across a message that what matters in life, irrespective of challenges, is how we react, adapt and breathe possibilities into our limitations.

The Ngah Christian success therapy has been tested across all levels. When he was orphaned, the therapy made way for him at the basic levels. That therapy was tested in his Secondary School and University days. 

His longtime acquaintances say, the world is just living the reality of a man who hates failure and doesn’t take no for an answer at a higher level based on consistency. For many, your Personality of The Week is a champion with uncommon resilience.

Just like it is today, Ngah is a character who knows how to bounce back better, irrespective of what is thrown at him and how deep a hole or trap is. 

This fits into the history of the reputable The Guardian Post newspaper and the National Communication Council, NCC, wherein, enemies entered a conspiracy to bury. 

The media organ was slammed unjustified successive suspensions but Ngah, being a character who has repeatedly made nonsense of arid conditions, came back better and has not stopped leading the way in media management in Cameroon.

That Ngah, whom others are now referring to as the ‘miracle media mogul’, continues to do something worthwhile, our readers concur, is because he has overcome adversity times without number. He is a man who has trained himself to plough his energy into positive ventures.

The golden atmosphere surrounding Ngah this season for the milestone The Guardian Post has hit, in the view of stakeholders and accurately so, is because, he functions with a philosophy that every defeat, heartbreak and setback contain their own seed to do better next time.

Like brave soldiers who triumph in war, your Personality of The Week, analysts say, is a brave man who has triumphed for 22 years and still counting in managing The Guardian Post. 

He has been sized in seamless fashion as a personality who maintains his cool in the face of adversity, turning things around for good in the process. 

While some have developed courage by being happy every day, Ngah is unique in that, he has constant courage to survive difficult times and challenge adversity.

The sunshine of Ngah’s prosperity is that it has reached families through those gainfully employed at The Guardian Post and others benefiting through his many charitable ventures.

In a generation wherein adversity has broken many and killed their dreams, your Personality of The Week has been pushed into a blissful setting for honour this season for continuously breaking records.

Ngah, today is a common denominator of anything journalism, communication and consultancy, not because challenges don’t exist but because he is an eagle with a fearless spirit and a conqueror.

His relationship with journalism is that of a calling and passion. While still in Secondary School, his journalistic talent was already making waves. 

He ended up volunteering with the state broadcaster, Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV, as an announcer in Bamenda in 1995 but his dreams were intact.

He joined The Herald newspaper in 1996 and held the following functions; Santa correspondent, Bamenda Deputy Bureau Chief, Bui and Donga Mantung Bureau Chief with seat in Kumbo. 

He was later transferred to Yaounde in 1999 as Circulation Manager and six months later appointed as Managing Editor of The Herald newspaper. He held that position until 2001 when he quit to create The Guardian Post.

The Publisher/Editor-In-Chief of The Guardian Post, despite palpable successes already, found time to return to school, despite taking several training courses in journalism in Cameroon and abroad.

He holds a degree in journalism from the Advanced School of Mass Communication, ASMAC. Ngah is also holder of a US-sponsored Diploma in Investigative Journalism and a British-sponsored Diploma in Environmental Reporting. 

Ngah, who has widely traveled, is the Goodwill Ambassador of Arkansas State, in the United States of America, USA; President of the Cameroon English Language Newspaper Publishers’ Association, CENPA; Vice President of the Federation of Cameroon Newspaper Publishers-FEDIPRESSE; Member of the Committee to study application files for government's subsidy to the private media; Member of the Committee to study publication of legal notices in newspapers in Cameroon and Member of the eight-man Committee created by government to work out a blueprint to rescue the dying media industry in Cameroon. 

His towering credibility saw the United States, US State Department selecting him to cover US 2016 presidential election.

Ngah was also among 15 journalists selected from across Africa, who had working session with French President, Emmanuel Macron, in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2019.

Given his clout, weight, influence and the dignity he has given to journalists and the journalism profession in Cameroon, Ngah has been rated as a surpassing icon of irreplaceable standing.