CI-NEWS

Cameroonian takes up strategic World Bank position on Wednesday, 1 July

2020-07-04

No: 509

Cameroonian takes up strategic World Bank position on Wednesday, 1 July.

Peter Taniform, a Cameroonian national, will from July 1, 2020 cover Energy, ICT and Transport, as Infrastructure Sector Leader in four East African countries; Rwanda, Uganda, Somalia and Kenya besides leading the transport Team in Madagascar.

The appointment of the Senior Civil Engineer and Senior Transport Specialist is from within the house. Peter Taniform joined the World Bank Group in 2008 as a Senior Transport Specialist and has since then led several transport portfolios across several countries in Central and Eastern Africa.

His appointment is in recognition of his distinguished performance throughout his career within an Institution which promotes excellence and meritocracy. He has had several recognitions within and without the institution over the years.

Prior to working for the World Bank Group, Peter Taniform worked with the Government of Cameroon in several capacities. While working for the government of Cameroon, Peter Taniform earned the Merit Award for the fight against corruption in the Ministry of Public Works in 2000.

Rock-solid academic earnings

He is a graduate from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands with a Master of Science Degree in Transportation & Highway Engineering. He equally holds several professional certificates/diplomas from Cameroon, Japan, Malaysia, and UK higher institutions. He has a multidisciplinary training and multi-sector experience with over 22 years of experience in the infrastructure sector. He has a strong passion for research with several publications.

Although Peter Taniform has a science background, his literary mind is also sharp. He is a Playwright and Actor. He has a fine pen that earned him a National Merit Award for playwriting & Theatre Arts in 1994 besides several others.

His National landmarks and Cameroon as beneficiary of his service

While serving as Senior Transport Specialist in the Central Africa sub-Region, he led the design and implementation of several projects and just to name a few within Cameroon; The Douala Infrastructure project (Tarring of several kilometres of urban roads and construction of several drainages in Douala), the rehabilitation of the 267 km Maroua – Mora – Dabanga – Kousséri road and the ongoing 51 km Babadjou – Bamenda road (including the urban section) linking the West and Northwest regions. He equally led several reforms in the Port, Railway and Aviation sectors which have boosted the performance, governance and competitiveness of these sectors.

Peter Taniform equally designed and led the implementation of several Aviation Safety and Security Projects for the four International Airports in Cameroon (Douala, Yaounde, Maroua and Garoua). He equally played a key role in fostering dialogue and coordination of Trade facilitation among CEMAC member States of which Cameroon is a backbone member. Most of Cameroon’s Customs Reforms benefited from his insight and leadership on the World Bank side and today the results speak for themselves.

He is equally a passionate advocate for road safety and helped transform the domain in Cameroon. The creation of the first ever coalition of NGOs/civil societies and Private Sector Foundation in the Road Safety domain was thanks to his unflinching commitment and support. The Ministries of Transport, Public Works, National Gendarmerie, Police and the Academia have all benefited from his contribution and support in the Road Safety advocacy crusade. His achievements in fostering with passion his institution’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared posterity are quite evident and speak for themselves.

A Man of his people and of humble beginnings

Peter Taniform grew up within the ranks of a very ordinary simplistic peasant family set-up in Bamendankwe. He has maintained, enjoyed and celebrated the simplicity and humility inspired by these dignified humble origins till date. He is often referred to by those who know him, as a role model of humility and a man of the people.

Like his peers of similar ranks in his community and days, he was engaged in basic survival socio-economic activities such as charcoal burning, firewood selling, farming, street hawking in the main markets and streets of Kumba and Bamenda metropolitans.

In those days, his family could barely afford two square meals in a day and as such it was the obligation of each family member to be fully engaged in contributing to the well-being of the family. His parents thought him self-survival techniques and skills at the very beginning of life that developed in him a strong spirit of self-resilience and firm determination. He is marked by his fear of God and pursuits of Christian virtues.

He grew up being instructed and inspired that there are no two ways to survival in life other than developing a very high integrity and moral standards of excellence based on the Principles laid out by God Almighty, engraved in hard work and academic excellence. He was privileged to have seen these values practised, lived and modelled out by ordinary men and women of his community. Hence, he had no excuse of becoming otherwise. These virtues characterized his main life pursuits as he grew up through the ranks.

He is a patriot and statesman in every respect and has won the respect of his fellow countrymen in every class of the society. He is committed to see the common man or woman grow to his/her full potentials. His advocacy to promote meritocracy, excellence, development and peace is outstanding. Over the years he has been a sponsor and promoter of several of these initiatives both at the national and the local levels. He has (i) a continuous scholarship program for meritorious underprivileged pupils and students of his community and beyond, (ii) a community development scheme where he promotes capacity building and donates construction equipment to members of the community, (iii) financed and sponsored several documentaries of his community to preserve his cultural heritage, (iv) funded and promoted the vision of the development associations of his community with relentless energy, (v) been a role model and mentor to a vast cross section of youths in Cameroon, (vi) encouraged unity and peace among several communities and people and (vii) donated continuously to Orphans and widows in less privileged communities. The list can go on unending.

There is no doubt an institution like the World Bank with similar mission will recognize and promote such values.

With the current appointment, the people of Cameroon and Bamendankwe can only pray the Almighty God to protect him and endow him with wisdom, because they are rest assured, he will surely bring back the goodies in due season.

The people of Cameroon equally thank World Bank Management for such a recognition of their Son.

The future is bright for him and the people of Cameroon and Bamendankwe in particular.

Culled from Journal du Cameroun

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Cameroonian takes up strategic World Bank position on Wednesday, 1 July