21/07/2025
Nico Halle’s Message At CENPA Award
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I greet all of you seated in this beautiful hall at the Buea Mountain Hotel today, 5th July 2025, the year of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ladies and gentlemen, please permit me acknowledge formally my invitation to this great event that was sent to me by the President of CENPA on the 26th of May 2025, inviting me to be part of this event to receive an award titled Consistent Peace Advocate and Anti-Corruption Champion Award.
First of all, I would like to express gratitude to the President of CENPA in particular, and of course, the jury that found me worthy to receive this great award, which for me is a big motivation.
It's a big encouragement to my person, winner of the 24th Consistent Peace Advocate and Anti-Corruption Champion Award. For your decades of selfless peace, crusade, and fearless war against corruption, corruption, and it ends with the word congratulations.
Corruption, bribery, graft, embezzlement, and of course, you add to that discrimination, tribalism, xenophobia, these are all setbacks that have destroyed the very fabric of this beautiful nation. And I've been on this fight for more than 30 years, and this fight can only stop when I'm in my coffin, because I think that we have to do something to turn things around.
All of these vices are responsible for huge pockets of unemployment and poverty, and these are sources of frustration. And of course, you would understand that when people are frustrated, they can, of course, spew, you see what we call hate speech, xenophobia, and what have you, bitterness, they will disseminate all of that and destroy the society. So I've been into this fight, and I will continue to, I will continue to.
And I want to thank the jury, again, that found me worthy to receive this great award. This award, I will receive it gracefully and thankfully because it falls on the domain that I have been into over the years. If this award did not address issues that I have been working on over the years, then of course, it would be a concocted and fabricated award.
And of course, people who know me, Sir Dr. Barrister Nico Halle will reject it outright. But I'm accepting this award because of its credibly and the organ, CENPA giving me this award is credible.
In fact, when they were created, when this CENPA was created some six years ago, the first venue, the first venue they landed at was my law firm in Douala.
And they presented the entire executive to me and got my blessings. And then, of course, they asked that I should be the legal advisor and also the national patron. And I gracefully accepted.
CENPA has come a long way, has come a long way. And to be very honest with you, I have been following its activities minute by minute nationwide. This vision of charity and humanitarian services to not only their colleagues, but to the downtrodden, the have-nots, the destitute, this is what warms my heart.
And to permit me, congratulate Mr. Ngah Christian, who is the president, you know, the president of CENPA. We know them by their fruits. And so, I am receiving this award.
It's unfortunate that I'm not in Buea . I had planned to be in Buea myself to receive my well-deserved award. Unfortunately, I'll be presiding at a wedding, you know, today, which coincides with this great event.
So, I thought that I should send this message to cheer all the laureates up and congratulate all of you for this wonderful distinction. It was a wonderful distinction, which is motivational. And please don't go to sleep.
Continue to work for this beautiful nation. Continue to work for this beautiful nation. I will not stop working for this nation.
I will not stop. That's what I do. I sacrifice a lot of my time, my resources, my pleasures, my family, you know, pleasure in order that I can work for my nation.
That is patriotism. And I'm sure you have been acknowledged today and been, you know, rewarded for what you have done over the years. I congratulate you.
I congratulate you in the name of Jesus Christ. I think that, you know, when the event will be over, I should say when all will be said and done, you know, let the Lord take the glory. Let us try to banish inordinate unfolding ambition, unbridled quest for money, wealth, and results, and, you know, unbridled quest for relevance and visibility.
Let us be humble and do what the Lord expects us to do. Let us shun megalomania and narcissism. Let us shun tribalism and xenophobia, thinking that some people are more Cameroonians than the others.
I want to pray with you that we are having elections in this nation this year. Let us pray God, pray the Lord Almighty to talk to us that we should apply best practices, democratic, you know, principles, the rule of law.
We should look at the instruments that guide us into having free, fair, transparent, credible elections so that, you know, we can be able, we would be able, not can, we would be able to have, you know, peaceful elections and then, of course, put the right people there to be able to exploit the huge national and natural resources that we have for the good of all of us.
I pray that the Lord should take all of us back, those of you who are seated here in the hall, back to your various homes, and we continue to praise his name. We say hallelujah, hosanna, because God is great. Without God, nothing good can happen.
With God, you are receiving these distinctions today. Let glory and honour go to him and to him alone. Mr. President and your team, may God bless you.
Continue to put smiles on people's faces. You know, your humanitarian activities don't go unnoticed. You are definitely very generous.
Continue to, the Lord will continue to bless you. It is in giving that you receive. If you don't give, you don't receive.
May God bless all those who are in the hall, bless the members of CENPA, bless also by extension the staff of the member Media Houses, and bless our media in Cameroon that the reporting that will be done in October, between now and October, should be peaceful reporting, responsible reporting, reporting that will bless everybody on the path of peace, and of course, you cannot have peace without justice.
In fact, when I said peace, I start with justice, because take away justice, equity, transparency, accountability, truth, integrity, dignity, and honour, the fear of the Lord, whatever you are preaching is empty. This is the platform.
Sir Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle