Biya blames educational system for unemployment

President Biya has said in his 2015 address to the youth on the eve of the National Youth Day celebration today, February 11, that there is an alarming rate of unemployment in Cameroon and is promising to create 350,000 jobs this year for the unemployed. He said this while urging the youth to shun calls echoing through social media to destabilise and divide the country.

Biya blamed the current unemployment of the youth on unfair trade relations and an unsound educational system.

“I am well aware that many of you, whether educated or not, are unemployed. I am well aware that to survive, many of you resort to precarious options that are unrelated to your training or qualification. This situation is in several cases due to the global context as well as our educational system.

For nearly twenty years, unfair terms of trade and successive economic and financial crises have slowed down our development process and thus made job opportunities scarce.” He said.

Without proffering suggestions to solving the problem of unfair trade, a situation many economists have described as cancer eating deep into the economic fabric the country, Biya in his televised speech, focused more on the need for the professionalization of the educational system.

“Our primary, secondary and high schools, universities and professional schools must constantly adapt to the changing world. In a country like ours, whose ambitions in the areas of agriculture, mining, tourism, arts, sports and the environment are an open secret, and where handicraft and small enterprises still occupy a prominent position, it is indispensable to have better training institutions that prepare our youth for these trades.”

The President, however, observed that the professionalization of education though good, will not have an immediate impact on unemployment.

“You might then ask me: given the urgency and the fact that youths are naturally impatient, what do we do and how? I urge the Government to use the existing structures to continue providing vocational training, promoting self-employment and micro-project financing. I also urge every trade chamber, employers organization, in short, the private sector, to pull its own weight.” He opined.

When The Cameroon Journal asked the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, Zacharie Perevet, in what sectors over 250,000 jobs were said to have been created last year, he vaguely cited tourism, carpentry, hair dressing and other jobs he said, are being created by vocational training institutions.

President Biya in the message said that in 2014, 283,443 jobs were created by government services and enterprises. “In 2015, we expect 350,000 new jobs to be created. At this time next year, we will have the opportunity to take stock of all the jobs created since 2011,” he said.

However, he quickly added that; “we must also recognize that we are far from a glorious sustainable recovery that can alone transform our country into an Eldorado. Such a bright spell must be sustainable and consolidated to lead to economic emergence.”

In a not-too-outright call, apparently against Boko Haram and its yet-to-be identified sponsors, Biya appealed to the youths; “Do not be misled notably by birds of ill omen, dreamers and enthusiasts of virtual calls for destabilization through the social networks. These irresponsible prophets are desperately seeking to manipulate you. Never has our national cohesion been as indispensable as during this delicate period when our country is facing external threat from barbaric enemies.”

Biya said that the horrific scenes being witnessed in some countries wrecked by civil war, religious conflicts, population displacements and anarchy should deter youths from getting involved in such adventures and called on them to take the example of young soldiers who are ensuring security along the borders.

“Their bravery, their sense of duty and sacrifice” he said, “show us what utmost love for fatherland can be.”

For the record, over 100,000 Cameroonians age 30 and bellow recently filed applications for the recruitment of 4,700 police officers. The recruitment was announced in December last year by the Delegate General for National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguelle, who said the initiative was prompted by the need for more security officers to counteract Boko Haram insurgency.

Following crowding at police stations by youths eager to submit their dossiers, the deadline was extended by two weeks ending Feb. 18.

Another group of over 900 unemployed youths have submitted files for a competitive examination into the department of diplomacy at the International Relations institute of Cameroon, IRIC. Of these 900 applicants, only 15 places are opened – a glaring indication of the high level of unemployment and the long road that Cameroon still has to travel before creating ready jobs for youths becoming very vulnerable to Boko Haram as recruits