Pierre Ngijol Ngijol

Who was Pierre Ngijol Ngijol?

Ngijol Ngijol Pierre was an African scholar, social critic and tribal leader. He was born Musi Pierre in 8 August 1934 and was the only surviving son of Thomas Ngijol, a Cameroonian nobleman from the Ndog Njeh Clan, one of the leading family of Bassa’a Ethnic of Cameroon. His mother, ngo Maloum Marie Therese, was also issued was issued from tribal nobility. His parent had sixteen children of which only three survived into adulthood. He was one of them and the oldest son.

He his best known to the world for his pioneering work transcribing the Cameroon epos The Sons of Hitong into French. A French Grammarian and Ph.D. in French, Latin and Greek letters, he also held a post doctorate degree in Oral Negro Africa literature. He was a university professor for four decades, a 3- times Dean of the faculty of letters and social sciences at the University of Cameroon. He was rightly considered by his Cameroonian peers one of founding father of the Yaounde University and a by far the largest contributor in moulding the national education system of the Republic of Cameroon. He retired early in 1994 and spent the remainder of his life teacher pro bono at the high school of his native village. From time to time, he has sought after by the Cameroon’s Ministries of higher Education and Scientific Research to direct doctoral dissertations.