South West Governor sat in for the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence to officiate at the start of the seminar.  

Jointly organized by the Governments of the United States of America and Cameroon, some 30 participants, mainly Military Officers and Sub-Officers from Burkina Faso, Chad and Cameroon have begun a regional seminar termed “initiation into military intelligence” in Buea to run from 11 to 29 January, 2016.

Officiating at the formal opening of the seminar on January 12, 2016 at the Buea Mountain Hotel on behalf of the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, the Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, underscored the context within which the seminar was being held as one facing multidimensional security challenges. He expressed regards to the four American instructors and rejoiced that participants would add their knowledge in intelligence gathering, research and exploitation.

He said the seminar would also reinforce capacities of the various regional countries in the domain of intelligence. The Governor could not resist mentioning the Boko Haram menace which must be overcome even as they have changed their modus operandi from the conventional attacks to kamikaze blasting. He called on the participants to put in their best in assimilating the techniques as well as contributing inputs to the training.

As Chief Executive of the Region, he expressed the profound gratitude of the Cameroon Head of State to the United States through AFRICOM for their engagement in reinforcing the capacity of African armies once more as proof of the excellent relationships between African Countries and the United States.

The Commander of the Douala-based Second Military Region (RMIA2), Major General Saly Mohamadou, accompanied the Governor at the official opening of the intelligence seminar among several other military personalities.