Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Rural Development Projects in Manyu: Focus on Manyu Rural Radio.

Vehicle for spreading information to our community

Rural development in Manyu Division can best be described as having a retarded growth. This is because since independence and re-unification, the cry of the Manyu man and woman has been that their division has been neglected by government. By this they have often referred to their poor road infrastructure.


In spite of this cry of the Manyu citizens, it requires only a cursory look at the division to arrive at the conclusion that if government has indeed neglected Manyu Division, the teeming population of Manyu for nearly four decades neglected their division themselves.


Manyu is blessed with highly educated intellectuals, vast forest resources, a big river running through the length and breadth of the land, a big population with a high literacy rate, and to name but a few, a large capitalist oriented market as a neighbor. Nigeria, a country which up till date gulps a big share of Manyu’s forest and agricultural resources and so likely to pump billions in currency into the economy of Manyu, if commercial interchanges had been properly arranged all these years.


Before the Manyu radio project came up, (around 1996) when the administration got wind of it and stepped in to endure its materialization), no project had ever been introduced which engulfed the active participation of the entire division’s population and which was significant and challenging enough to test the collective will of the people, asses their readiness to sacrifice or evoke their patriotism for the division native to them.


What people had been engaged in and not even successfully all these years had been individual self subsistent farming with little attention paid to the need to develop even those food – crop farms to the dimension of a serious economic venture. For those who owned cash crop farms, their ambitions before the eighties did not rise to a high commercial level either. Nobody thought of developing the fishing industry despite the vast water resources and to date, there are still traders who travel hundreds of kilometers to buy fishery products and sell in Manyu Division.


Groups such as Common Initiative Groups (CIGs) have existed in our neighbor North West Province for over two decades. Their activities have created a flourishing rural development spree that has given birth to extensive dairy products, cottage industries, communal rice, potatoes, animal husbandry ventures and even arts and crafts works, while in Manyu CIGs are still a novelty. It is only today that people’s eyes are opening to the existence of loaned and grants from international bodies for agricultural development.


ENTER VOICE OF MANYU (V.O.M.)


With the rash of CIGs, NGOs and co-operatives in Manyu came the one project that could help galvanize all the fledging macro and micro groupings into a veritable development oriented entities – the Manyu Rural Radio project.

Typical Community Radio Studio in Rural Africa

The radio station better known as the Voice of Manyu (V.O.M.) is a gift from La Francophonie, spearheaded by Canada. It was installed in September 1997 and hit Cameroon’s airwaves for the first time on September 20, 1997. For the equipment to come to Manyu, it was mandatory for the people of Manyu to build the station. At the level of the division, as a result of the absence of a well co-ordinate body that could mobilize the population for much needed development, the administration had to step in before even the construction work could be effected. A loan of 3 million FCFA was contracted from a local Manyu co-operative bank, Solidarity Savings and Loans (SSL) and a levy of 200 FRS, per person was imposed on the population.


As usual, if construction depended only on contributions from the population, the project could have failed. A substantial amount to build the structure came from Manyu’s external elite, MECA branches of Yaoundé, Douala, Limbe, USA and Europe; but by far what clinched the job were the contributions of Mr. Johnson Agborsangaya (late) who not only lent blocks, iron rods and other materials but worked physically day and night (with a chantier lamp) for two weeks to raise the building from foundation to completion. Other Manyu businessmen like Mr. Isaac Enowkpa (late) lent building materials and also supervised work. Mokoko and some others are still being owed. The Kembong community worked hardest, one might say, perhaps because the station is situated in their village. They also supplied zinc.

Modern Community Radio Studio

So it can be seen that for a Division – wide project to succeed in Manyu, some individuals must be ready to sacrifice. There is no gainsaying the fact that staff who have voluntarily given their best since 1997 without remuneration to speak of, now need to be looked after, as the success of any project lies in the people who work there.


The station itself needs furnishing, painting, a fence, toilets and repairs of equipment. V.O.M. has become symbol of Manyu solidarity. Let us keep it alive.

Radio Station Antenna - needed for Voice of Manyu

Addendum by Simon Etta:

When MEDWC USA last visited the station in December 2008, it was still alive but limping. The radio house relocated from Kembong a few years ago when the main transmitter got bad, and the signal could barely reach most of the listeners beyond 8 km. It is currently operating in the Mamfe town hall occupying two small offices.

Management has also changed hands with Cyprian Agbor - pioneer Manager retiring. Voice of Manyu is badly in need of modern equipment to operate effectively – transmitters, microphones, DVD players, tape recorders, mixers, just to name a few. There is also a need to construct a 50M antenna to help with better signal penetration across the division. The previous 30 m antenna was damaged by thunderstorm.

Whereas similar community radio stations are functioning well in other parts of the country, V.O.M has been a dismal failure. The lack of communication throughout the vast region of Manyu is a major barrier to sustainable development. The vision for a community radio is to spread information to our community whether related to education, health, agriculture, women or children's rights.

Once again, we are challenged to build a community spirit and learn how to work as a group/team. We are reminded that human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together. As we seek achievements for ourselves, we must not forget that prosperity and progress calls for community development. It is time we rescue VOM from life support and rebuild it as a community effort for the young generation.



This story was originally published by AGBOR Cyprian Agbor - Pioneer station Manager for Voice of Manyu (V.O.M).

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