In 1953, William Ebot Makia completed his secondary school education at Basel Mission College in Bali after taking the Senior Cambridge School Certification Examination. He worked ...view moreIn 1953, William Ebot Makia completed his secondary school education at Basel Mission College in Bali after taking the Senior Cambridge School Certification Examination. He worked for a while in the Cameroon Development Corporation. Later, he studied in the Cooperative College Ibadan, Nigeria, and in the Loughborough Cooperative College, England. In the Ministry of Agriculture in Cameroon, he rose from inspector of Cooperative to director of Cooperative Services. And from 1980 to 1987, he was general manager of South West Farmers Cooperative Union (SOWEFCU). While managing SOWEFCU Ltd, Makia was promoted to Principal Civil Administrator Special Class—the highest grade in the Cameroon civil service. After he retired as a civil servant in Cameroon in 1987, the World Bank employed Makia as an expert on cooperative development and assigned him to assist in the development and/or improvement of the cooperative components of four African countries: Burundi, Guinea Conakry, Cameroon, and Namibia.
In December 1955, he married Martina Efu, and the couple have been together ever since (over fifty-nine years). They had five children: three sons—Dr. Asek Makia, pediatrician and allergist/immunologist; late Eyong Makia, chemical engineer; Mr. Tabi Makia, civil engineer— and two daughters—Mrs. Banyo Ndanga, pharmacist, and Mrs. Abit Oben, lawyer. All of their children obtained their advanced degrees in the United States.view less