Libreville, Tuesday 23 June 2026 – The award goes far beyond ceremony. By being raised to the dignity of Grand-Croix of the International Order of Academic Palms of the African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education (CAMES), Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema receives much more than a decorative honour.
This recognition, granted on Tuesday in Libreville during the 43rd session of CAMES, comes at a time when Gabon seeks to redefine its place in Africa’s intellectual dynamics and to make higher education a strategic lever for sovereignty.
On a continent where economic competition is now played out as much in laboratories and universities as in natural resources, this event reveals a broader ambition: to position Gabon as a central player in Africa’s academic transformation.
Knowledge at the heart of the national project
Addressing university officials, researchers and delegations from several African countries, the head of state chose to dedicate this distinction to those he considers the true builders of the future: teachers, researchers and students. They were the focus of his speech.
“I know that these noble professions are vocations, marked by trials and difficulties. I am deeply convinced that society and the state must better recognise and encourage them,” declared Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema.
This message comes as Gabon multiplies investments in university infrastructure, higher education and scientific research. Behind this direction lies an increasingly shared conviction across the continent: the wealth of African nations will depend less on their raw materials than on their ability to produce knowledge, innovation and skilled human capital.
The Gabonese president summarised this vision in a phrase that resonates far beyond the country’s borders: “There is no national destiny without strong and responsible research and higher education.”
This statement marks a break with development models long centred on resource exploitation. It now places education and science among strategic priorities.
CAMES faces its historic challenges
Founded in 1968, the African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education is today one of the continent’s most important university cooperation institutions. Its 19 member states give it a crucial role in evaluating lecturers and researchers, harmonising diplomas and promoting scientific research.
For Professor Charles Edgar Mombo, acting president of the CAMES Council of Ministers, the stakes go well beyond the academic framework.
“Beyond its honorary character, this presidency constitutes a strategic lever to guide the major priorities of the institution and to strengthen the place of the country that holds it in the African academic concert,” he emphasised.
Under his impetus, Gabon intends to carry several major priorities: student and teacher mobility, mutual recognition of diplomas, modernisation of curricula, adaptation of training to technological changes, and improvement of graduate employability.
The institution also faces an essential requirement: strengthening the international visibility of African research in a global academic environment dominated by major American, European and Asian centres.
Libreville aims to become an African knowledge capital
Gabon’s ambition is not limited to the administrative management of CAMES. Libreville now aspires to host the next summit of heads of state and government of the organisation.
Such a meeting would send a strong political signal. It would confirm Gabon’s return as an influential actor in major continental debates and provide an exceptional platform to promote its human-capital-based development strategy.
This prospect comes at a time when Africa is experiencing the fastest student population growth in the world. By 2050, several hundred million young Africans will enter higher education. Their training will directly determine the continent’s economic competitiveness.
It is precisely in this battle for knowledge that Gabon is seeking to position itself today. The distinction awarded to Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema thus appears as recognition of a political direction that places the university, research and innovation at the heart of development.
More than a personal reward, this CAMES Grand-Croix enshrines an idea that has become central in new African strategies: the 21st century will not be only about infrastructure or raw materials. It will be about knowledge. And Gabon now intends to take its full place in this historic transformation.
