Prof Nalova Lyonga wins 2022 Woman of The Year Award!.

Known to have been a year that recorded several obstacles in the secondary education sector, how Prof Nalova Lyonga piloted issues, sometimes leaving hierarchy in awe, are among the reasons she has emerged as the nation’s main female character of 2022.

The encouragement for her outstanding innovations in the secondary education sector, hard work, patriotism, service to fatherland and work in progress in molding the next generation, was unveiled Saturday March 4 in Douala in the Littoral Region.

Prof Nalova Lyonga was announced to the delight of millions as winner of The Guardian Post 2022 Woman of The Year Award.

The ceremony was The Guardian Post 2022 Achievement Award which had in attendance several personalities. This year’s was the 20^th edition.

Representative reiterates Prof Nalova Lyonga’s commitment to serve

The Regional Delegate of Secondary Education for the Littoral Region, Eboa Thamar Ndengue, was the special envoy of the Minister, Prof Nalova Lyonga, to receive the coveted award.

After receiving the award on behalf of The Woman of The Year, the Regional Delegate expressed gratitude to The Guardian Post for such a high level recognition. 

The minister’s representative substantiated the recognition as being the fruits of Prof Nalova Lyonga’s crusade to raise Cameroon’s secondary education sector to international standards.

She said, the minister would continue to strive to make every vision of the Head of State, His Excellency President Paul Biya, who is also a former laureate of The Guardian Post Achievement Award, a reality.

Clarity of Prof Nalova Lyonga scaling to the top

The choice of The 2022 Woman of The Year Award, was not that of an individual.

Members of the award jury explained that it was a product of the assessment of millions of readers of The Guardian Post; spread across the globe.

According to Ngah Christian Mbipgo, Publisher/ Editor-In-Chief of The Guardian Post, the role of the award jury was just to compile the results and to announce the winner.  

Ngah said The Guardian Post Achievement Award is to recognise compatriots who in extraordinary ways go the extra mile to serve the citizenry.

The recognitions, based on the decision of readers of The Guardian Post, he said, are meant for posterity; given what personalities in the standing of Prof Nalova Lyonga do for the nation.

On his part, the President of  the award  jury of The Guardian Post  Achievement Award, Richard Nde Lajong, who doubles as the Publisher/Editor of The Herald Tribune, said the committee met  several times to catalogue the nominations and choices of readers before compiling the winners.

“We held meetings sometimes late into the night to ensure that winners are people whose credibility is not in doubt. The committee comprises of jurists, journalists and members of the civil society,” Lajong remarked.

Matchless transformation of secondary education sector

In the arguments of The Guardian Post readers who are very tenable and clear, Prof Nalova Lyonga has, since her appointment on March 2, 2018, to head the secondary education sector, demonstrated uncommon innovativeness and foresight.

In 2022, the nation was in the eye of a storm as secondary education teachers raised several concerns.

But Prof Nalova Lyonga showed her known tranquility and pro-activeness in putting things in perspective.

When the Head of State, President Paul Biya, gave directives for the government machinery to handle the concerns, Prof Nalova Lyonga had long made an autopsy of hurdles that existed even before the teachers’ outburst.

As a pedagogue of high standing who Prof Nalova Lyonga has been across the years, the secondary education boss, handled issues swiftly and teachers returned to the classrooms.

But Prof Nalova Lyonga who has across the years remained inseparable from excellence did not end there.

She accelerated work resulting in the creation of a dialogue platform with representatives of different teachers’ trade unions.

Among the many actions that kept her rating excellent in 2022 as it has been the case over the years, Minister Nalova Lyonga admitted that some of concerns teachers had raised where genuine.

It is even on record that she had signed at least 155,559 integration files but the teachers had not been paid. Thus, it became clear to everyone that the bug was elsewhere not at the Ministry of Secondary Education.

Many teachers and observers of the polity came to a quick understanding of what was at stake.

Today, she has further entrenched the decisions of the Head of State to ensure serenity in the secondary education sector.

She has signed thousands of advancements for teachers and paid the transport allowances of thousands posted to new schools.

The 2022 Woman of The Year has also signed advance salaries for graduates from Higher Technical Teachers Training Colleges, HTTTCs.

It is even no news to add to her accolades that, as corruption-free as she has been over the years, Prof Nalova Lyonga, had since turned things for good in terms of handling money in schools nationwide.  

As Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, has prioritised technology in financial management, distance learning and digital transformation that have become the norm across the world.

The results have been acclaimed transparency in terms of money management and the control of student population nationwide.

Prof Nalova Lyonga, a minister at the heart of schools

Away from the wellbeing of teachers which she has refused to shy away from, Prof Nalova Lyonga, has been described as one of the most active and productive ministers of the current government.

She came to the Ministry of Secondary Education with impeccable intelligence and refined pedagogic savoir-faire.

These explain her ideas such as the Clean Schools Concept, curbing violence in schools, banning corporal punishment and creating safe space for pregnant students in schools.

Her vision for schools has been paying off in the creation of green spaces, ensuring water supply and toilets on campuses.  

For purposes of enhancing security, Minister Nalova Lyonga, has brought on board the installation of surveillance cameras in schools.

As Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, has battled issues related to violence and unruly behaviour on campuses. Her tenacity reached exceptional heights in 2022 given the quietude that characterised certificate exams.

Many say the new phase of Cameroon’s secondary education sector can only be credited to the charm offensive that Prof Nalova Lyonga has been implementing at the helm of the ministry under her command.

She has ceaselessly insisted that there is no place for jokes with the destiny of children who are the foundation of tomorrow’s Cameroon.

To match words with actions, Minister Nalova Lyonga, has been active across the nation, strengthening the functionality of schools and ensuring the assiduity of teachers.

She is credited with transforming many schools into bilingual colleges.  The Minister has also strengthened the technical education sector through the construction and upgrading of several technical colleges.

Snippet of 2022 Woman of The Year

This professor of African Literature is a known quantity of respected mettle across Cameroon and beyond.

Prof Nalova Lyonga studied at the Queen of Rosary College, QRC, Okoyong in Manyu Division of the South West Region.

She also attended the Cameroon College of Arts Science and Technology, CCAST Bambili, before moving to the University of Yaounde.
Prof Nalova Lyonga then left for the United Kingdom, UK, where she earned a Master’s degree from the University of Sheffield.

In her quest for more knowledge, the young and inspirational Nalova Lyonga moved over to the United States of America, USA, where she bagged a doctor of Philosophy, PhD, in English Literature from the University of Michigan.

In the spirit of service to nation, she returned to Cameroon and joined the university community.

For decades, Prof Nalova Lyonga groomed young Cameroonians and rose through the ranks to become Deputy Vice Chancellor, DVC, of the University of Buea, and later Vice Chancellor, VC, of the same institution.

In November 2017, she was named Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Douala General Hospital.

Few months after, the Head of State, His Excellency, President Paul Biya, handed her the daunting task of reforming the secondary education sector. This was on March 2, 2018.

Till date, many have said, among them the millions who voted for her as the 2022 Woman of The Year, and rightly so that, she masters the presidential assignment given her in a way so unique.