Rename the University of Yaounde : The B.N. Fonlon University

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Le Mont Cameroun, No. 0036 of August 19, 1989 – September 5, 1989, p.3.

Much has already been said and written about the late Venerable Professor Emeritus of the University of Yaounde, Dr Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, of blessed memory. Much more remains to be unveiled about this man who was, even to his closest colleagues, something of an enigma.

Fonlon’s contribution to the academic world, in general, and to the University of Yaounde, in particular, has been, and is still being widely analysed, dissected, commented upon, vilified and applauded by friends and foes alike.

It may be worthwhile to recall that it was in recognition of his tremendous scholarly achievements that the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, invited him to take a walk down its aisles to be robed with a singular distinction in the form of a doctorate honoris causa.

There, in snow-covered Canada, far from home, far from his loved ones, far from his family, the Master slept, never to wake up again. How sad! That was three years ago this August 26, 1989.

On this third anniversary of his death, I too wish to join the throng of his admirers who will be laying a garland of words as a tribute to his memory.

I am fully aware of the difficulty of capturing in words an academic and political colossus of the stature of Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon. He was a politician quite unlike any other politician this country has ever produced, and is unlikely to produce again in our life time. A politician whose ascetic approach to life contrasted quite sharply with the often ostentatious vulgarity that is typical of the free-wheeling, grab-all-keep-all mentality that has made such deep inroads into every fibre of the life of this unfortunate triangle of ours.

When historians do come to write a definitive history of this nation, Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon will no doubt prominently feature as a walking embodiment of stringency and moral rectitude. Fondly referred to by close colleagues as ‘Prof’, some even called him ‘Socrates’, Dr. Fonlon was never a man to compromise his moral and intellectual integrity for ‘a few pieces of silver.’

To those who knew the man, the academic and the politician that was Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, the few attributes I have mentioned here will, no doubt, appear like a scratch on the tip of a very rich, diversified and enigmatic academic and political iceberg.

I leave it to them to unravel for us the puzzle that was to many of us the life of this Venerable Professor. For my part, I will merely urge the Cameroonian people to mark this third anniversary of his death by renaming the University of Yaounde ‘The Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon University’. What finer tribute can a people pay the memory of an illustrious son of the land than to engrave his name on an institution he had so dearly loved and worked so hard to preserve?

Comments

[Valentine Ngwa]

I think Prof Fonlon deserves better the University of Yaounde being named after him. He deserves to be named after a University newly created so all will know from the onset why the University bears the name and strive to make it unique. The University of Yaounde already has a lot of history of its own (not good ones I am afraid!) that we will do no justice by tying the name of the Prof to it.

[Lucy K.]

Yes the University of Yaounde in La Republique du Cameroun should be named after Bernard Fonlon. While lesser "educated" and "credentialled" peoples of his generation revolted against what led the "anglophones" into slavery, Dr. Fonlon, who must have known better than most. kept is mouth shut, muted in academia, comfortably in the place Ahidjo made for him. Dr. Fonlon knew better, but did not agitate. One of the brightest sons of our land even predicted the morass were are in today, but did not agitate. He was an alibi in the France-Ahidjo ruse. Staying comfortably in Yaounde until his death. They always all come back home dead, both literally and figuratively.

[Steve Dufe]

I personally think Fonlon should not be so associated to a university that has fallen short of his ideals. However, he still deserves something great. Iam so very happy with the effort people are making towards immortalizing him. Why i do not understand is why it has taken so long. I tried it out in my music too.
Dufe Stephen in Bamenda

[Ngalim Bernard]

It is true that people live and die.This tuth of course took the emmeninet professor some years back.But there is still something ironical about all this.Professor is a dead living in the minds and hearts of the true and honest citizens in the world today.
Like a human being he too had detractors but these type of people will lead themselves only to the vale of darkness for a man of substance whether living or dead is alive .Prof BERNARD NSOKIKA FONLON is and should be the mentor of all African philosophers to be.

[C. Zedi]

I do not think a rotten and filthy place like the University of Yaounde should be associated with Bernard Fonlon. There was a time when I looked at the contents of the toilets of the African Literature Department which he established, oozing out on the corridors, and I was so ashamed of being a student there. That was a few meters away from the offices of some of my lecturers, whose names, I can no longer recall now. The English Department has paraded a list of lecturers whose students today would be very ashamed to associate themselves with... I don´t´remember any that influenced me. The sex scandals, the marks being proferated to those of their choice... just to mention the departments with which he was involved. What is it about Yaounde that one could look at and be proud of Fonlon when the institution is in ruins and the moral decay is so pervasive? Save us some breath! Let´s talk of another time... the beautyful ones that would name an icon after Fonlon are not yet born... please, it´s time we die peacefully in our own filth!

[shang samoa alphonse]

it is a wonderthat dr fonlon is not yet canonised given the fact that he died a chaste and ledan exemplary life