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| Dr. Tikum in office |
A well traveled scholar, Dr. Tikum had practised
full-time journalism as a worker with the state media- Cameroon Radio and
Television (CRTV), now a writer, a journalism and mass communication lecturer,
an interpreter and translator and media consultant.
Over the years as a lecturer, Tikum has had an
unflinching determination to make things to make things stick and click
together in the prestigious Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in
the University of Buea.
His workaholic attitude and his conspicuous
achievements has recently earned him an appointment as Pioneer Head of Media
Division at the University of Bamenda.
Tikum Mbah Azonga of Cameroonian parentage, hails
from the North West Region of Cameroon. Born on March 5, 1957 at Baforchu in
Santa Subdivision, he did primary education at St. Micheal’s School Musongmuabu
and completed in 1970 at St. Francis School Bambili.
After going through Sacred Heart Mankon for five
years, Tikum finally graduated from CCAST Bambili with an Advanced Level Certificate
in 1977.
With his intrinsic passion and burning zeal for
teaching, Tikum Mbah Azonga took up the teaching of French in private colleges. And in 1980, he enrolled into the bilingual series of the Ecole
Normal Supèrieur de Yaounde. As was then, he went to France and was trained as
a teacher of French. While in France, Tikum also attended a school of
translation and was churned out as a translator/interpreter.
On completion of formation in France, the French
Government entreated Tikum Mbah Azonga among others to go to Britain and teach
French. Inasmuch as Tikum’s mission to
Brtian was to teach French, he ventured into a postgraduate diploma in
journalism, where he specialised in production journalism and press and public
relations affairs.
When his official mission to Britain ended, he
continued teaching French and Spanish and was Head of Department of Spanish
at John Lonburg School in London. Tikum also worked for Africa Magazine and West
Africa Magazine, all based in London. He also has been one time
Editor-in-chief and Publication director of Emet
Magazine. Tikum significantly acted as Press ad Public Relations Officer
for London Borough Council.
After spending many years in the diaspora, Tikum
returned home with a heavy background in journalism and good mastery of the
teaching of French as a foreign language. He was poised to contribute to the
development of his own country by working in Cameroon and paying taxes to the
government.
Following a highly successful early morning radio
programme called “Wake Up Show” which
Tikum ran on CRTV National Station with late Becky Ndive, he was called by CRTV
and offered a job.
While at CRTV, Tikum felt some of his skills were
been stifled. So when vacancies were advertised in the University of Buea, he
seized the opportunity and was offered two jobs as lecturer. One in the
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication - JMC and the other in the
Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters – ASTI. Tikum chose JMC in
order to practise teaching, do research and stay within the domains of
journalism. He saw journalism as an avenue to speak to the world. Since then,
and until before his appointment, he has been a budding journalism in the University of Buea.
In his quest for more knowledge, Tikum Mbah Azonga
enrolled for a PhD in Mass Communication and in 2011, he was a laureate from
Ecole Supèrieur Robert de Sorbon in Nancy-France.
Dr. Tikum is a well-known author and has published
many books in the likes of: “Say No To
AIDS”, “The Wooden Bicycle”, “Tomatoes For Four”, “Sighs and Whisper From
Within”, “Modern Cameroon Poetry” and so on.
This media practitioner who speaks over 30 local and
international languages is married and father of 5boys, 5girls. He takes
reading and writing as hoppies and likes practising the language he knows and
learning the languages he does not know.
By
Amindeh Blaise Atabong
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