It will recruit and train 25 learners per batch after moral inquiries.

A FCFA 287.5 million project to prevent cyber crimes in the country has been launched. The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam, chaired the inaugural on 21 July, 2015, at the Buea Mountain Hotel, flanked by representatives of partner ministries such as Defence and Justice. The University of Buea will execute the project in cooperation with the US-based Bloomsburg University.

Following the inaugural speeches, the National Cyber Expertise Centre, based at the Buea Posts and Telecommunications School, was visited by Minister Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam.

The centre will carry out research and train experts – 25 per batch - to develop cyber security protection measures, fight cyber criminality and thwart cyber terrorist threats. Minister Biyiti Bi Essam explained that the evolution of the country, with so many government and private projects, required greater use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

Unfortunately, he stressed, ICTs, which are very important tools, have been turned into a great danger to Cameroon’s security by some unscrupulous people. This is why it is important to sensitise and train people to fight these risks with ICTs., he pointed out.

According to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Nalova Lyonga, “As the human being advances and finds better ways of doing things, so too have criminals found better ways of perpetrating evil and bringing us back with the advances made.”

To mark the inaugural ceremony of the cyber crime fighting centre, a Bloomsburg University luminary, Professor Scott Inch, who is a Mathematics, Computer and Statistics expert, delivered a revealing introductory lecture on cyber crime, warning users of ICTs to be very careful as traces of crime are never completely deleted. He made it clear that crime can be detected by forensically studying one’s telephone, computer or any ICT used.