Professor Enoh Tanjong: President Biya’s perfect pick into the National Communication Council

On June 4, 2021, President Paul Biya appointed Professor Enoh Tanjong into the National Communication Council, NCC.

Created in 1991 and reorganized in 2012, the NCC is the watchdog of the watchdog. Its members are appointed for a three-year renewable mandate.
Although Joe Chebonkeng Kalabubse was appointed NCC President in replacement of Peter Essoka, there’s no doubt that Enoh Tanjong is bearer of the journalism grey matter needed by the council.

Professor Enoh Tanjong is a seasoned expert in communication with over 30 years of experience in media and communication education, media research and consultancies on news assessment. He has authored many books, journals, worked as Fulbright Scholar in residence, and served on the boards of many reputable global organizations.

The story of Enoh Tanjong is one of resilience, optimism, hope and service. Enoh Tanjong was born in 1955 in Fotabe, a small village located in Manyu Division, South West Region of Cameroon. He spent his early childhood years in the village attending primary school. In 1967, his elder brother (Hon Enow Tanjong) decided to pull him out of the village and give him an opportunity to pursue secondary education.

He enrolled in the prestigious St. Joseph’s College Sasse near the Fako Mountain and went on to obtain his Ordinary Levels. He continued his education in CCAST BAMBILI, where he obtained his Advanced Levels.

Confident that he was about his abilities, the young Enoh Tanjong decided to pursue his dreams of a higher education at the University of Lagos, Nigeria where he enrolled at the School of Mass Communication, obtaining a BSc in Mass Communication in 1979. Thereafter, he set his sights on a doctoral journey to the United States.

Enoh briefly returned home and worked with the Ministry of Communication before traveling to the United States.

He started his work career on September 3, 1979 and worked for a year and a half before traveling to the USA for Masters and Ph D studies in December 1981.

He bagged a Masters in 1983 and then PhD in 1986 at the Prestigious University of Madison, Wisconsin in the Mid-West. Because of the love for family and also the need to serve the fatherland, he return to the country in 1986 and continued work with the Ministry of Communication while carrying on with consultancy work.

Three years later, that is in 1989 he got married to his lovely wife, Dr. Becky Tanjong. Together they have four children who have now given them four more grandchildren.
In 1993 following a series of movements orchestrated by Anglophone teachers and students which brought some turbulence, the University of Buea was created.

Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh, Mme Njeuma and Sammy Chumbow invited him in April 1993 to write a journalism programme for the University of Buea. Enoh consulted his long-time friend Dr George Ngwa, and they wrote the programme for Journalism and Mass communication and handed it to the University of Buea administration.

The programme was accepted and they were called to immediately start the programme. That is how the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication was created. The Journalism and Mass Communication Programme of the University started November 1993. Enoh began it with George Ngwa and Mme Ndoh Beltha.

During his years at the University of Buea, he served both as Head of Department (12years) and Vice Dean of Programmes and Academic Affairs (until 2017) at the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences.

He continued to serve as lecturer until his retirement in October 2020. With his vast wealth of experience in the field, Enoh Tanjong has authored and coauthored about half dozen books and dozens of journal articles.
On October 10, 2020 when he clocked 65, Enoh Tanjong officially retired from the University of Buea.

He takes satisfaction knowing he has done his very best as he has inspired generations of top class journalism and communication scholars scattered all over the world.

Enoh Tanjong lived a full life of Public Service, an event where his former students decided to do him a worthy send forth party to retirement at the end of 2020 was surely a bittersweet moment for him.

As the learned professor fully recovers from Ischemic stroke he suffered in April 2019, President Paul Biya has entrusted in his hands the task of watching the watchdog – the fourth estate of the realm.