Face-to-Face with Ngobesing Suh Romanus

Ngobesing Suh Romanus is a renowned Cameroonian journalist living in Bamenda the capital of the North West Region of Cameroon.The inspiration for his work comes from the beautiful landscape of the grass field Kingdoms.

He is still passionate about journalism and his fans around the world. He speaks of Mendo Ze, Maigari Bello Bouba in this soul searching chat with Cameroon Concord's Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai.

Cameroon Concord: You had what many described as a successful career with the Cameroon Radio and Television. What bill of health can you yourself give to your journalistic career? Positive or negative?

Ngobesing Romanus: Let me first of all thank you for offering me a chance to be a guest in Cameroon Concord. I also thank you for your kind words to me. To come to your question, I judge my journalistic career in the public media to be very positive. I had a great time in CRTV for thirty years. Of course, that is not to say that I only had high moments. That would not be a true picture of it. I had both low and high moments; but being a specialist in turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones. I turned the low moments into high moments. That is why I left CRTV with my head high. Today I remember and will always remember my days in CRTV very fondly and with gratitude to God for offering me such a great opportunity.

Cameroon Concord: My late Dad always said “when people go to see Ngobesing Suh Romanus, they go to get ‘Something Useful” Is this true?

Ngobesing Romanus: Many people have come to associate with the program ‘Something Useful.’ If you call my name anywhere what immediately comes to people’s minds is ‘Something Useful’. I think my people are so much in love with my program that they find it difficult to distance me from it. Some people actually address me ‘Something Useful’ when they meet me. Others even call me ‘The Wise man’ just because of the program. It’s simply amazing.

Cameroon Concord: The whole idea of "Something Useful" on Cameroon Radio was a huge success. Where did this idea come from?

Ngobesing Romanus: When I got into Radio Cameroon which later became CRTV, I had one ambition: to have a program that would inspire people to bring out the best in them. My love for this type of work was ignited when I was in college. Although I was a very hard working and brilliant student, I wanted to shine more; to beat my own record. I started going to the library to read with the conviction that I would find books that would teach me how to study better and do better in studies. My search led me to the discovery of The Power of Positive thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. I found it to be a masterpiece as it wasted no time to inspire me and set me on the positive thinking path.

I began to search for more books in the domain and found that there were many others. I have read lots of books on positive thinking. The impact on my life has been tremendous. I have been able to sail through unbelievable storms.

When I left the school of Journalism and began to work I decided that it was better to share what I knew so that others could benefit from it as well. I started by creating a program on the National station from 9 to 10 am every Monday. It was titled ‘Success Hour’. The program became a wonderful success.

It was the program that received the highest mails from listeners. In those days, Radio Cameroon was received outside Cameroon in such places as Nigeria, Pakistan etc, and I used to receive letters from these places. Many people were carried away because they had never heard anything of the sort on radio.

Many were hearing about positive thinking for the first time and were thrilled to hear that they could achieve their dreams; that they could overcome their obstacles and turn their stumbling blocks into stepping-stones. Of course, there were a few people who knew those things but kept them to themselves. I made them public material and available to anybody who wanted it.

One year after I began work, I was appointed to Bafoussam to man the programs department there. I handed ‘Success Hour’ to a colleague who stopped it for lack of the same inspiration. In Bafoussam I thought it necessary to start something in a different way which would continue to inspire people and set the society right. I created ‘Something Useful’.

The impact was immediate. It was accepted nationwide. Then I was appointed back to Yaounde to handle English Language programs. In Yaounde I continued with it. Some colleagues in the Provinces at the time were interested in having Something Useful on their stations. I agreed; and every week the veteran journalist Philip Bawe had me in his program TCB. In Buea, Jomo Kevin was having me on too.

I was later transferred to Bamenda and I travelled with Something Useful. I always move with the program. When I moved to Radio Evangelium I moved with it. It has become part and parcel of me. Let me mention in passing that outside Luncheon Date which is CRTV’S prime time program, there is no program on any station in Cameroon which has stood the test of time as ‘Something Useful.’

Cameroon Concord: I have spoken to many former journalists of CRTV who told me the Prof Mendo Ze era was unacceptable, unbearable and at best primitive. Do you share in this opinion?

Ngobesing Romanus: We each have a right to our opinion. There are people who would crucify the Professor if they had a chance for the way he ran CRTV. Many of such people left the house. There are others who continue to swear by the man. Under his leadership they had the best moments of their lives. That’s life. We have people who are for us and people who are against us. I usually like to look at the positive side of things. I don’t dwell on the negatives.

People have their weaknesses. The environment also influences how people operate. I always forgive people because they may be highly learned but not educated; and so when they have a responsibility they do not know how to handle it in such a way that the common interest prevails above their self interest.

It’s all ignorance. That is why I have spent my life trying to educate and inspire people to change their mentality and their attitude. Prof. Mendo Ze operated within a system that had a certain mindset and I think he was unable to extricate himself from the system. Poor fellow! He is paying dearly for it. I wish he had known better. He is a nice man. It’s sad that he has landed where he has. It’s a lesson the rest of us need to learn to do better.

Cameroon Concord: You are from a constituency where the Social Democratic Front dominates in all aspect of political life! Why did you choose the UNDP of Maigari Bello Bouba?

Ngobesing Romanus: It’s a long time since I talked politics. Actually at the moment I am focused on Church and do not have time for politics. I do not say that politics is bad. I usually encourage Christians to go into politics and bring into it Christian values. If Christians shies away from politics, they will give room to the bad guys to take control of the destiny of the word and drive it to where they want.

Any Christian who can! should go in to politics. For me now, I want to concentrate on the assignment my Archbishop has given me at Radio Evangelium. It’s such an important assignment I do not want to take chances. That is why I am off politics for now and prefer not to go into saying why I took this political option or the other. Let me Just mention that I have great respect for the leaders of the two political parties you have talked about, Ni John Fru Ndi of the Social Democratic Front and Maigairi Bello Bouba of the National Union for Democracy and Progress.

Cameroon Concord: What message would you carry to the National Assembly if you had the opportunity to address the August house?

Ngobesing Romanus: I would tell them we can make this country what we like it to be. It is not a far-fetched dream. We can make it a country to be proud of. We can make it a great country; a land of opportunity; and for that to happen, the people’s representatives must play their role as they should.

Their position places them at the forefront of development. They are the ones to vote the laws. They should vote good laws and fight for the independence of this arm of government. They must fight against the ills of society especially corruption that is eating up our country from inside.

They must know that they are the people’s representatives, and the common interest of the people must supersede their personal interest or party interest. We need to learn from the advanced democracies such as the United States of America. The second thing I would tell them would have to do with education.

In fact, this is a message I am dreaming of taking to the entire world. We can make the world an excellent place for everybody to enjoy if we want to. God meant the world to be an excellent place for all of us to enjoy. We are the ones who have spoiled it; but we can fix it; and that can only be through education. We need to create and education that brings out the best in people; that builds values in people; that teaches people how to live with others. If people are educated to be excellent people, they will be.

If people are educated to be mediocre, they will be and mediocrity will prevail. We must pay great attention to what we are feeding the minds of our children with because that is what they will give back to the world. We spend huge sums of money trying to bring peace to the world but we do it the wrong way. We need to tackle the issue at the roots which is through education. These are the few things I would like to talk to the People’s representatives about. I could talk all day on them. They are so important.

Cameroon Concord: Kindly talk us through your relationship with Mendo Ze and Minister Bello Bouba Maigari.

Ngobesing Romanus: Professor Mendo ZE was my lecturer in the university before he became my General Manager. He is a nice man. If you were close to him you enjoyed. He was a generous man to his friends. I was not in his inner circle. I like to be independent; to stand on my own legs. I felt strong enough not to be dependent of a God father.

He had a lot of respect for me; and manifested it each time we met. As for Minister Maigari Bello, I fell in love with him because of an address he made in Limbe during the inauguration of Sonara in impeccable English. He speaks English beautifully. I have not met him since I left the UNDP; but while there I was very close to him and we pulled on very well. I was his National Communication Secretary and did a lot of things for him. I continue to like him as a person.

Cameroon Concord: Your voice on the radio was indeed something special, the messages you did send out were good for Anglophones and better for the people of Cameroon. Who in today's CRTV do you think is following your footsteps?

Ngobesing Romanus: Honestly I can’t say. I always find a new generation to be better than the older one. Many people talk of the golden days of journalism to be of the past. I say I have never seen better days than now in journalism in Cameroon; and the best is still to come. We played our own part in our time; but I am amazed by what young people are doing these days.

They are so creative, so dynamic, so alive and inspiring. As for someone doing what I am doing, I do not know. You know there are many radio and TV stations now and you cannot know what may be going on here and there. But I know that from time to time I hear journalists presenting inspiring programs. I encourage them. People need those motivational and inspirational programs. We need journalists who can point to the direction that society must take without making it confrontational.

Cameroon Concord: You are heralding the development of the Roman Catholic radio in Bamenda. How is work going on there?

Ngobesing Romanus: This is the best moment of my life. I have never enjoyed work as I do now. I will never stop thanking the Archbishop for giving me the opportunity to put my talent to good use on this station. The opportunity I have here came just about two months after I became a Senior Citizen and is what I never had in CRTV.

It’s been a great opportunity to serve God and the Church. Many people did not know what I was capable of. Now the world has been able to see. I am heading a team of brilliant, hardworking young Cameroonians and we are delivering the goods. I feel beyond the ordinary with the inflow of compliments. But at the end of the day I say credit goes to God. We are a great team at Radio Evangelium, but it is not all our doing. God is doing his work through us.

Were it not so, how can anyone explain that within just two years we have become the darling of the whole region not only for Catholics but the whole population?

Cameroon Concord: This is a personal question. Do you have any son or daughter involved in journalism? If not, WHY?

Ngobesing Romanus: I have many children who can do journalism brilliantly but only one is in it for now. You might have heard the name Ngobesing Linda Neh. She is a brilliant journalist. She graduated from the University of Buea with a double Major in Gender Studies and Journalism; started practicing journalism in CRTV when she was a student in training. She left her mark just within a few months of broadcasting. She is a bunch of talent and generally loved. You love to listen to her. She has the right word at the right time.

When we worked together in CRTV, many people told me point blank ‘Your daughter has beaten you.’ That was a source of great satisfaction for me. People continue to tell me that; and I tell them every child is supposed to do better than their father or mother. I learn many things from them especially ICT.

So at the moment she is doing volunteering at Radio Evangelium Bamenda. I know the Archbishop would have readily given her a chance as a full time staff if she had liked it but she is not ready to take up journalism full time. She has a wonderful talent in development work and it looks like that is where her future lies. Whatever she does in that area always has a special touch.

Any company that will get her into their team either for public relations, marketing or development work will be happy they did. She is equally strong in issues that concern gender. When she gave her first guest interview on the web, it had a lot of positive comments around the world.

Cameroon Concord: Are you satisfied with the state of journalism in Cameroon today?

Ngobesing Romanus: We are faring on well. A few years back it was a sad case. It was journalism of the stomach; but today things are different. There has been a lot of formation and many of those in the field know exactly what is required of them and do the best they can to deliver. Still there are some people who misuse the profession. On the whole we are on the move.

There is a multiplicity of media organs; and a good degree of freedom of expression. There are still some authorities who think that the media should be stifled. It cannot be. There are also some journalists who are more public relation officers for public figures than being journalists.

Still, we are making progress. Many people want us to have Western media standards without considering where we are coming from. Some day we will get there. We must continue to fight, with hope and have confidence and celebrate whatever achievements we make as we fight for more.

Cameroon Concord: Any last word to our readers?

Ngobesing Romanus: I want to thank you for your decision to make me a guest in Cameroon Concord. I feel honored. This gives me the opportunity to thank Cameroonians for their support to me in my work as a journalist and writer over the years. I am one of those Cameroonian journalists who have enjoyed the support of the people.

From my very first year in Radio Cameroon before CRTV came, my programs were loved and supported by the people. I have enjoyed that love and support for over thirty years today and they still continue to do love and support. How can I ever thank them enough for that?

They are my wealth. They are the ones who have made me what I am today. I am a product of the Cameroonian people and I love them for that. As a way of saying thank you, I have decided that I will live for them and only for them. I will serve them freely until my candle is out. That is why I continue to produce ‘Something Useful.’ I have added something which has gone worldwide –blogging. I have created a blog. You can log in at http://yoursuccessinspirer.com. I get readers from around the world; and the comments that are made sometimes make me cry. I thank everybody.

I like to congratulate all my young colleagues in the field, be it in the audiovisual, print or online media they are wonderful. CRTV has never been what it is today; and that is thanks to the young people. Let them continue. As for the listeners of the radio I head, I promise that we shall continue to offer them the best. Let listeners be confident of us. We must use the media not only to inform but to form our people and shape our society to make it what we like it to be.

Finally I thank you for inviting me and wish that you work hard to take Cameroon Concord to the very summit. I believe in getting to the end of the road. I do not believe in ending half way. Get right to the top. God bless you.