“Good morning Prof”. “Good morning Mr Shu. How are you?” This is the peculiar way we started our day. Prof, I am made to understand that we will never have this mutual interaction again. It has taken me time to sit down and try to write this as an eulogy. This has been a very difficult obligation for me. How I wish I could type as fast as you would do. I would have produced a whole text already in just one minute. Your mastery of concepts and skills on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) was unimaginably great. I admired you on this and when I questioned, you told me you started your life as a Secretary on the typing machine and so you just adapted to the computer. Your thinking and typing speed! Incredibly high! Prof, where are you taking all these skills to? What about the book you were writing. When shall it be published? Several times I sat with you in the library. I looked at the shelves and the books. Then I looked at you. I teased you often and discovered you have read every single book on the shelves. You even blamed me for not making use of the library as much as you expected. Whenever I had a difficult pedagogic paper to present anywhere, I came to you. You would direct me to the particular shelve for the specific book especially on methodology. Therein are found your pen marks. You maintained that science is universal and so knowledge should be shared to wipe out ignorance. You founded NGUMYS FANTASTIC INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL in 2008 in your own measure to make quality education accessible to all. You invested your all and all in the growth of the school. You will not sleep until you have resolved this or that issue in the school. You insisted on having the school function as a system with each one taking responsibility. I get marveled, when in the yard, you can call each pupil by name. You transformed the whole environment into an inclusive school with pavements to accommodate pupils with physical challenges. You kept on buying more and more laptops for the school, insisting that in the 21st century no child should be left out in the race of globalization. In car management, I have not seen your equal. You testify to your drivers that ever since you started driving none of your cars has ever had a mechanical default on the road because “prevention is better than cure”. You got so angry with me and shouted when my car had a breakdown sometime ago. “George! You were not vigilant! How did you not foresee this?” Prof Ajaga Nji, your spirit of sharing is exceptional. When you travelled, you made sure you brought some surprise gift to each of your teachers. You would buy bails of warm dresses and share to your teachers so they “don’t fall sick of cold in Dschang”. When you brought any harvest ( eg pear) or purchases on your way from Bamenda, you made sure each one had a share. When you harvested sugar cane or banana from the farm behind, everyone had a share. Every moment with you was a school. However Prof, all was not milk and honey between us. There were some very difficult moments between us especially with respect to organization, style, conviction and procedure. Notwithstanding, we succeeded to put in reason each time and life continued. Prof Ajaga Nji, you learnt so much from the world throughout your life and you succeeded to create an impact to thousands of people in the world including your students in various universities in the world. You created several scholarship programs. I vividly remember the scholarship training program you had with St Louis Nursing School of Dr Nick Ngwanyam, to train community nurses for the suffering rural populations. Through all of whom you have trained and through NGUMYS FANTASTIC INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, your legacy will live on. Adieu! Prof Ajaga Nji. You are not dead!
Shu Waa George (Pedagogic Adviser to NFIS)