A new biography by veteran journalist and author Dr Ashu Nyenty retraces the remarkable professional journey of Peter Essoka, one of the familiar voices of Cameroon’s English-language media. The book, Peter Essoka: The Venerated Voice, will be unveiled on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at the Ministry of Communication in Yaoundé, in the presence of its subject and a gathering of media and public figures.
There are voices that disappear when the microphone is switched off. Others remain, carried by memory from one generation to another. Peter Essoka belongs to the latter. For more than four decades, his career has unfolded across some of the most significant institutions of Cameroon’s media landscape, from CRTV to the BBC and the Voice of America.
In the 1970s, his voice was already familiar to football audiences. His commentaries brought matches closer to listeners at a time when radio remained one of the principal windows onto the wider world. The sports microphone was an early chapter in a career that would later take him deep into public affairs, broadcasting and the relationship between institutions and citizens.
At CRTV, Essoka became closely identified with Hotline, a programme that acquired particular resonance in the early 1990s. It offered listeners a space for expression and discussion at a time when the media environment was undergoing important changes. His direct and engaged presentation style helped establish him as a journalist capable of turning broadcasting into a forum for public conversation.
His professional path eventually extended beyond journalism into media regulation. He served as chairman of Cameroon’s National Communication Council, before taking on responsibilities within the African Communication Regulators Network. These positions placed him at the intersection of journalism, institutional oversight and the broader questions surrounding the regulation of communication.
Writing became another means of preserving his reflections. Essoka is the author of several books, including Stand Up! Be Strong! Don’t Quit!, Lamentation for a Beloved Country and Journeying To My Emmaus. Through these works, the journalist has extended his engagement beyond the immediacy of broadcasts, putting into words perspectives shaped by a long professional and public journey.
The man undertaking the task of recounting that journey, Dr Ashu Nyenty, is himself a prominent figure in Cameroon’s contemporary media. As Chief Unity Palace Correspondent for CRTV, he has covered activities at the Presidency of the Republic. His previous responsibilities include Political Desk Editor and Editor-in-Chief at the national station, positions that have given him extensive experience in political and institutional reporting.
Nyenty has also established himself as a television presenter and public-affairs commentator. His professional record includes the presentation of Inside the Presidency, while several distinctions have marked his career, among them the Best TV Programme Presenter Award from the Cameroon English Language Newspaper Publishers Association, the Excellence in Journalism Practice Award and the Courageous Men Prize.
His academic background reflects the breadth of his interests. After studying journalism at the Advanced School of Mass Communication in Yaoundé, he pursued further training at the universities of Birmingham and Oxford. A former Chevening Fellow, he studied political theories and democracy before completing a PhD in Law specialising in international human rights law.
For Nyenty, the Essoka biography follows an already established path as an author. In September 2025, he published Pope Leo XIV, Destined to Be, a 136-page work examining the historical and contemporary relationship between the Vatican and Cameroon. The book, divided into eight chapters, brought together questions of history, religion, diplomacy and international affairs.
The publication of the new biography also resonates with a recent institutional tribute to Essoka’s contribution to English-language broadcasting. On March 16, 2026, the Peter Essoka Prize for Excellence in Journalism was presented during Cameroon’s Commonwealth Day commemorative activities, under the chairmanship of Foreign Affairs Minister Mbella Mbella.
The award was established to recognise outstanding achievement in English-language newscasting and programme presentation on radio and television. Government officials, Commonwealth diplomatic representatives, journalists and other Cameroonian personalities attended the ceremony, giving the recognition a broader place within the country’s media profession.
A biography is, in essence, an attempt to resist disappearance. It gathers voices, dates, encounters and professional milestones before they fade into the distance. With Peter Essoka: The Venerated Voice, Ashu Nyenty turns his attention to a generation of broadcasting whose echoes still inhabit Cameroon’s collective memory, offering readers an account of a career shaped by the microphone, public debate and an enduring commitment to journalism.