Meet Bimbia-Born Charles Nako Makangai, first Cameroonian to start primary school in Victoria (Limbe)

One of the most popular names in Limbe is Carl Steane because of a pioneer prestigious private nursery/primary school that carries the name. 

But very few today know of the legendary Cameroonian called Charles Nako Makangai Steane a.k.a Carl Steane who opened the first private primary school in Victoria (now Limbe) and the first Government Primary School in Garoua. 

Born to Nako Makangai of Bonangombe (Bimbia), Carl Steane left for Berlin, Germany in the 1890s and attended the Teachers' Training School. 

After seven years, he returned to Kamerun and worked briefly in Buea in the German Department of Education before his transfer to Garoua where he was the first educationist to open a primary school in Garoua Northern Region of Kamerun in 1904, according to Chief Jingi Abdoulaye of the Muslim/Northern Community in New Town.

While in Garoua, Carl Steane fell in love with a fulani Princess called Djara, the daughter of the then Lamido Bobbo Musa of Lainde in Garoua. On his return to Victoria, Carl Steane became the first local to open a primary school in 1932, precisely in New Town. He later handed it over to the Baptist Mission and it was called the Victoria Baptist School. 

His daughter, Hannah Nene Martin, later opened Carl Steane Memorial Nursery/Primary School. As Northern customs required, his wife Princess Djara was accompanied to Victoria by her junior brother, Musa Djingi who established his family in Carr Street Liengu Mboke (New Town) and became the head of the Muslim/Northern Community in Limbe. 

Sources: "The First Generation: from presence to community" by Robbie Aitken & Eve Rosenhaft; FESTAC 2019 Magazine; Dr. E K Martin and Dr Gladys Martin. 

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Bimbia-Born Charles Nako Makangai