Who said the nation’s youth never listen to calls or other admonitions from the Head of State? Less than three weeks after his address to the Nation on the eve of Youth Day, there seem to be some very positive answers indicating that the youth finds itself in a very positive disposition to accompany the President of the Republic as manifested in this singular feat realized by a youthful resident of Obala.

It is reported that a few days ago a number of nursing mothers were seated in a mother-and-child health facility in Obala waiting to get their children vaccinated; a routine activity just as one would find in any other locality of the country. These are obviously scenes where mothers or any others present and waiting to be attended to burn off their impatience by sharing their experiences in child care or simply talking about the strange weather that we find in Cameroon these days.  

So, no big deal as a neighbour suggests to a much younger one to go fetch some cookies to keep life going. The unsuspecting woman leaves her 10-month old baby into the hands of what she perceives as a generous matron of sorts but who, in fact, is a motherless woman in search of a good opportunity to snatch a baby. So, within seconds, she is off with the baby unto a bike rider, Onana Tong to whom she proposes an unusual FCFA 400, much too high for riders who burn the late night oil to obtain the minimum toll of FCFA 100 as required.

A few meters away, the generous customer wades off attempts by the rider to giveback change on the FCFA 1000 note he receives. Onana Tong smells a rat and as the generous mother jumps into a coming vehicle heading, of course, for a far-off destination, our young bike rider decides to follow, even if simply for curiosity about who this Father Christmas of sorts could really be and an instinct tells him to prevent the vehicle from pursuing its journey so as to get the real identity of this “generous mother”.

The vehicle owner, obviously uninterested in seeing his business interrupted releases the woman in this neglected uninhabited grove. The first few questions to her are followed by superabundant offers in exchange for his silence and it all ends up at the Gendarmerie charge office where the legitimate mother of the baby had already lodged a complaint about the theft of her baby. We are told to be each others’ keeper and the example from Obala is the best expression of that desire.

The youthful bike rider could have very well contented himself with the bountiful fee of FCFA 400, but the aggrieved mother would certainly still be crying over her stolen baby. This very important citizenship act comes at very propitious moments. On the one hand the President of the Republic has been calling on the nation’s youth to take possession of the responsibilities which are legitimately theirs in the running of the nation. This does not necessarily mean pushing off those in place, but showing their capacity to take over as responsible citizens on whom the country can count.

Moreover, bike riders have often been given a bad name and as some dogs with such names, they have been hanged precociously. The example from Obala is also a message to the hundreds of thousands of bike riders in the country as to the effect that they are also an important component in nation-building. And it is not for nothing that during his campaign for the election of 2011 which eventually led him to the current seven-year term, he told youths and particularly bike riders in Douala of the important place they had to play in the national economy.

The nation’s youth has been particularly valiant in the fight against the Boko Haram sect; but the exploit of Obala is also sufficiently courageous and deserving to be raised to the same status. Onana Tong ought to come to the forefront to be publicly celebrated as a national hero in his own right. Other youth must seek to emulate his example.