Editorial: What President Biya should tell youth tomorrow!.

February 11 is fashioned as Youth Day while December 31 is to review the past year and chart the course for the next year.

It is only the Youth Day that has suffered the rigors of time and the wear and tear of power to explain what youth did worthy of an annual commemoration.

But history cannot be obliterated to conceal the truth that it was on that day the people of the North West and South West Regions, then Southern Cameroons, went into a United Nations, UN- supervised plebiscite and voted to "have independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun".

February 11 should, as has been argued over the years, honour that union, which today forms a country with slogans like "one and indivisible" and "living together", being promoted by government apologists like some publicity jingles.

The youth in Cameroon are often told that they are the leaders of tomorrow, their training is being professionalised in institutions, which according to the Budget Policy Paper for the period 2021-2023, “the map of public higher education provision in Cameroon has remained unchanged, with 11 State Universities, 226 private higher education institutes, and three specialised institutions”.

They churned out, as at the last count in 2018, as many as 112,615 students, who graduated from universities under the Ministry of Higher Education. 

That does not include those from some 226 private universities or other institutions ranking as such, which could quadruple the number of graduates seeking employment each year.

In his Youth Day speech last year, President Biya said the Special Three-Year Youth Plan has already enabled the financing of over 11,000 youth projects and generated close to 35,000 direct jobs, for an overall cost of approximately 20 billion FCFA, in a country most graduates look up to the government, which is grappling to pay some 300,000 public servants.

He explained that: “I must, however recall that neither the State nor existing private sector enterprises alone can employ all the young people graduating from the traditional educational system each year. That is why, once again, I am urging you to embrace self-employment by taking advantage of the opportunities available in areas such as agriculture, handicrafts and digital economy”.

He conceded that the hardship hitting young people are as a result of exogenous shocks as well as “lingering internal threats that are disrupting the pace of implementation of some of our public policies”.

Biya encouraged them, however, to keep up with the times and use digital and technological advancements to improve their living conditions and those of fellow citizens in the real world.

He added that: “I urge you not to lose hope in your country and to have confidence in the future. Challenges will always be a part of human life, but they must be faced with courage and determination”.

Challenges, especially those of governance and disenfranchising many youths and discrimination in top government jobs cannot be solved in an environment of record inflation, unemployment with shabby and grossly inadequate infrastructure.

Yet, there are reports where all Governors due retirement, as well as many SDOs, but they remain on the job. There is no government minister who is under 50, yet the youth are being flattered as “leaders of tomorrow”.

Cameroon is the only country in the democratic world where voting age is from 20, as against a global limit of 18. In some countries like Argentina and Australia, voting age limit is 16.

With presidential and other elections due next year, President Biya should, in his address to the youth, come Saturday, announce the revision of the Electoral Code, so as not to continue disenfranchising youth of 18 and 19 from deciding who rules them. 

It is only when they can hold leaders to account through their ballots that they can choose leaders with competitive economic programmes who would take them out of the unemployment nadir; given that February 11 in Cameroon has its historical roots firmly in politics.