The cradle and citadel of Technical Education, West of the Moungo,

A treasured jewel along the Mutengene-Limbe highway,

An 85-acre gated enclave, conceived by colonial minds and planners to address a

crucial need.

The fountain of skilled technical workforce to support the needs of emerging economies.

Over time, you have stuttered, evolved, survived and have scars to attest to it.

Your name morphed with the eras— Ombe Trade Center, Government Technical

College, Government Technical High School.

Even your methods to evaluate and certify your products for the market,

transformed— City & Guilds, CAP, Probatoire, and more.

Gracefully, you adapted, continued in shaping minds and nurturing talents.

Your founders envisioned you for greater promise - a Polytechnique, maybe.

To produce not just skilled technicians, but fine engineers.

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Perhaps that goal was elusive from its inception; You fell short, or maybe others did

not fulfill their part of the bargain.

Yet, you thrive! creating fertile budding grounds from which young minds sprout.

Today, you proudly observe how they've surpassed the bounds of technical education,

Excelling in law, journalism, public health, nuclear physics and other fields as

esteemed professors.

Like the river that shares your name, you evoke deep nostalgia.

Our forebears would like us to recall meetings by the banks of that river as the sun was setting low.

Yes, that Ombe River, once vibrant, now altered by the inevitable effects of climate change, its vigor diminished.

To some, like that river, you are seen as a vestige, your gleam lost and barely enduring.

To most, your promise you still hold forth, like a seasoned soldier, your eyes fixed on the mission, no distraction, just focused on preparing talents for the 21st century.

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Solomon Agbor, Ph.D.

Ombe, Building Construction, class of 1980