The visiting Italian President delivered a lecture on Europe-Africa relations in the Amphi-700 lecture theatre on Friday, March 18, 2016.
The authorities of the University of Yaounde I have conferred the title of “Honorary Professor in History of International Relations” on the visiting President of the Republic of Italy, His Excellency Sergio Mattarella. The Minister of Higher Education and Grand Chancellor of Academic Orders, Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo, solemnly handed him the title in Yaounde after the Italian President delivered a lecture on “Relations between Europe and Africa” in the university’s Amphi-700 lecture theatre on Friday, March 18, 2016.
Professor Sergio Mattarella also unveiled a plaque in memory of the academic award, in the company of Prime Minister Philemon Yang, the Head of State’s Personal Representative at the event. The shiny gold-coloured plaque bears testimony to an epic academic event that commenced in the Amphi-700 at 10 am when the Italian President watched a solemn procession of the institution’s teaching staff in their colourful academic robes.
Minutes later, President Mattarella was standing, like others, eyes fixed with admiration on the University of Yaounde I Choir as it sang Italy’s National Anthem, “Il Canto degli Italiani,” with such philharmonic perfection like it also did for Cameroon’s National Anthem. With Prime Minister Philemon Yang seated to his right and Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo to his left, Sergio Mattarella expounded the whys and the wherefores of new challenges facing relations between Europe and Africa. The audience, comprising university dons, Cabinet Ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and students, listened attentively.
According to him, the disturbing rise in migratory flows cannot be curbed by any one country but by a collective effort. The applause at the end of the lecture was enough evidence that the audience was satisfied. The 75-year old former Constitutional and Parliamentary Law Professor at the University of Palerme lived up to the expectations and his achievements earlier presented by the Rector of the University of Yaounde I, Professor Maurice Aurélien Sosso.
