A Grandfather's Inspiration: A Musical Star is Born - Bate Nico

No Manyu artist in recent memory has influenced traditional pop culture the way Bate Nico has done. With a prolific silky rythmn, Arrey Bate Nico got inspiration to sing from his grandfather who was a custodian of the Manyu culture. He uses his music genre, form and style to promote and challenge cultural taboos and norms, believing music to be the most appropriate medium to communicate, heal, and emotionally connect with people of diverse backgrounds.

Bate Nico (alias) is the fourth child of a family of seven. Born to Pa Arrey Ebot Joseph and Ma Pauline Bate of Kembong, Nico began his musical career in 1987, three years before his maiden album named “Na Money di find money”. Soon after the release of that album, Bate was on a roller coaster though with difficulties finding a major producer. His love for music, especially folklore and translating Manyu tales did not slow down this future legend. As a writer and composer, he went on to produce 5 albums and over 20 singles.

This fervant artist is guided by a career that is lively and comprehensive, showing indefatigable wit, creativity and originality of vocals. He fully participates at national events like Mount Cameroon international race of hope amongst others. Bate’s musical troupe named “Ache Manyu” consist of his wife Nkongho Regina, two sons, a daughter and numerous dancers. Because of inclusion of typical traditional costumes and folklore in his rendition, the artist was nicknamed “Cultural ambassador”.

Bate's brand of folklore promotes the rich Manyu culture in an appealing sound bit. His music has enough verve vaulting his presence in homes across Manyu, Cameroon and the international scene. He displays a charming consistency on and off stage with alluring perfect and comforting tunes. The power of its catchy refrains simply makes you dance to sleep.

It is noteworthy to state that, Alias “Bate Nico” is a likeable personality with an ever pleasing smile, electrifying dance steps, great vocals and great sense of humor. His resourcefulness is a pride to Manyu, his peers, numerous fans and his country. It is for this reason that, this great star in the making and a future Manyu folklore legend is in great demand with concerts planned for North America, Europe and Africa. We are yet to see the best of Arrey Bate Nico.

The Gap between Computer “haves and have nots”: An early start for our Primary and secondary school bound.

In Cameroon today, the computer revolution has affected almost everyone's life. Computers are utilized for business communications, shopping, postal service, banking and much more. Being computer literate is a useful skill in today's society. However, to become familiar with computers, one must first have access to them. Generally these skills can be learned at school, but a problem arises in the fact that there is not equal access to computers in most of our schools. There continue to be a large gap between the computer "haves" and "have nots," especially among our primary and secondary schools and worst off, schools in rural areas where there is lack of electricity.

According to the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, computer literacy may be defined as "whatever a person needs to know and do with computers in order to function competently in our information-based society". Competency is therefore broken down into three categories: skills to use computers in learning and information management; knowledge of the capabilities, functions and social implications of computers; and understanding to learn and evaluate new applications and social issues of computers. These three areas encompass virtually every aspect of literacy in terms of computers.

Our information based society is fast becoming more dependent upon computers as resources. To function in many situations, familiarity with computer systems is necessary and therefore kids must acquire the required skills at an early age. In a minimal case, all stakeholders including the private industry, local and national government should be investing in computer literacy for the future generation by equipping schools with the right hardware and software.

Computers in education can be the foundation for students to learn technology based skills which are desirable for and often demanded in today's job markets. Generally, being accustomed to utilizing systems or being computer literate at an early age can aid not only in developing motor skills but being competitive on the global stage. Working together with the private sector, parents and government officials must therefore seize the opportunity and make sure young minds are not wasted at an early age. On a larger scale, our governments and development advocates have a responsibility to ensure diffusion of computer technology in our schools does not remain a national policy and lofty goal in paper but in practice.