Freshmen and Sophomores in CUIB Buea Campus Pledge Their Allegiance
Students have been enjoined to be disruptive and innovative thinkers while pursuing education and not certificates in the university. This call was made by Barrister Nkongho Agbor Balla, keynote speaker during the 2023/2024 Freshman and Sophomore Convocation ceremonies in CUIB Buea Campus, Wednesday 8 November, 2023.
The twin ceremonies, part of CUIB’s numerous flagship traditions, brought into one canopy, management and support staff, faculty, students, parents and stakeholders of the university.
The acclaimed human rights lawyer, urged the students to be versatile and endeavor to know a little of everything because in today’s world, the certificates we have may not be what puts food on our tables. He went further to challenge the young learners to make proper use of the internet by exploiting search engines that are useful to academic and career growth, rather than spending time on popular social media handles like tik-tok, whatsapp, facebook, just to name but these.
The founder and President of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) and founder of Agbor Nkongho Law Firm,
Barrister Felix Agbor Balla
encouraged the freshmen and sophomores to get into voluntary societal services by doing little or big things to impact their communities and that education will not have value if we engage in violence, intimidation and other ills in the society; therefore, students should reflect on their mannerism and moral rectitude.
The recent winner of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, drew the attention of the President of CUIB Rev. Fr. Bartholomew Anyanwu, to be innovative as other Private Higher Education Institutes around Buea have copied and pasted the entrepreneurial identity of CUIB. Again, he appealed for the President to create a university environment which will enable students to be disruptive thinkers. Agbor-Balla, member of the Nigerian and Cameroonian Bar Associations and former worker with the United Nations, impelled parents to avoid living a life they didn’t live in their children and they should not help to kill their children’s dreams by imposing career choices. To the students again, the former lecturer at the Brussels School of International Studies, the University of Buea and the Pan African Institute for West Africa (Buea), called on them to focus on their strengths, with a positive mindset and the sky should be their springboard.
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The twin ceremonies were preceded by a Holy Mass presided by His Lordship Bishop Michael Bibi, Bishop of the Diocese of Buea and Chancellor/Pro-Chancellor of CUIB. In his homily, Bishop Michael Bibi mentioned that the twin ceremonies invite all to be true Disciples of Christ, while welcoming all new faculty and staff of the institution. The shepherd of the Buea Diocese stressed on the fact that it fills his heart with great joy to be with the freshmen and sophomores and congratulated them for being on the right track in the society. Bishop Michael pressed on the students to begin the journey of the new era with an entrepreneurial and servant leadership mindset, and went further to elucidate that entrepreneurial skills have proven to be of tremendous importance in today’s economy.
The flock of the Diocese of Buea called on all freshmen and sophomore to refuse to be deceived because the life of a successful entrepreneur is sweet like chocolate and that it goes beyond words of mouth but action. He called on them to exercise empathy, create a positive environment, put God first and respect the Economy of Communion (EOC) hour.
While welcoming the Chancellor/Pro-Chancellor, invited guests and students, the President of CUIB, Rev. Fr. Bartholomew Anyanwu advised the freshmen and sophomores to always put on their CUIB fabrics and badges with pride as they are now ambassadors of the growth mindset entrepreneurial university. In addition he mentioned that students should take the moment to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and that they should build lasting friendships and celebrate their diversities. Father Bartholomew further appreciated the efforts of the Chancellor/Pro-Chancellor of CUIB for his enormous efforts in ensuring CUIB is what it is today.
The Convocation proper was observed beginning with the freshmen convocation oath-taking which officially welcomed them to university life, preparing them for the academic life ahead and followed by the Sophomore Convocation oath-taking, geared towards enabling the sophomores, who are now specializing into different specialties, to better prepare them for their various careers.
The twin ceremonies ended in pomp as the founder and President of CHRDA cumulative as keynote speaker, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla pledged to donate books to the university’s library and also announced that CHRDA would provide at least three (03) months of paid internship to five (05) students of CUIB during the 2023/2024 academic year.
