Bakassi: Cameroonian territory, Nigerian occupants

- Symbols of Nigerian occupation still very conspicuous: population, currency, efik and ibibio languages etc

- Under-populated schools; ill-equipped health facilities, empty gov’t offices, abandoned projects etc

The Cameroon government must rethink its development policy on Bakassi or risk fighting another border war with her western neighbour some day. The population of Nigerian nationals in Bakassi is so overwhelming to be overlooked or ignored, while the symbols of Cameroonian occupation are anything but glaring. The factors that prompted Nigeria to claim ownership of the oil-rich peninsular are still very present, and this may only give another “Abacha” enough reason to march an army of occupation on Bakassi any time in the future, observers have warned.

Ever since ownership of the peninsular was transferred almost on a platter of gold to Cameroon in 2009 and this, not before the end of a costly nine-year border war that culminated in the UN-negotiated Peace treaty and the famous Green-Tree Accord, government appears to have folded its arms thinking the struggle is over.

Even as the Cameroon government claims she is directing huge financial investments to Bakassi with the view to bringing meaningful development to the area, critics say the effort is for the most part in speeches and half-measures. In fact, these investments have not been marched with a determined and sustained political will to make Bakassi truly attractive and commodious for Cameroonians.

Observers say the government has not done and is not doing enough to ensure that Bakassi is effectively populated by Cameroonians: And this has only created space that the more daring Nigerians have rushed and filled up.

The water-logged nature of Bakassiterritory, and perhaps the reccurrent attacks by sea pirates from Nigeria makes the place dreadful to most Cameroonians. Despite the coveted natural endowments that Bakassi is credited with, Cameroonians are still not attracted to the place.

In Idabatou, one of the several islands in Bakassi, there are far more Nigerians than Cameroonians. Here the currency easily and commonly accepted as legal tender is the Nigerian currency - the naira. The traders and the predominantly Nigerian fishing population would give away their goods (essentially fish and sea products) exclusively in exchange for the naira and hardly the cfa frank.

Also, the Nigerian inhabitants of Bakassi appear to suspect any thing Cameroonian: they send their children only to schools in Nigeria; they save all their money in Nigerian banks; they buy most of their consumer merchandise from Nigeria and do most of their leisure travels only to Nigeria and hardly to Cameroon.

Here at Bakassi, the doors of government offices are permanently closed for months running. The occupants have all vacated the place and sought refuge in nearby EkondoTiti or Mundemba. And for the most part, these government offices are housed in abandoned, dilapidating structures.

This dilapidation of government-owned structures is due partly to the fact that they were not adapted to the harsh realities in Bakassi. Here the soil is sandy, marshy and very porous; while the salty sea waters also easily erode the walls of buildings. Then the violent winds from the expansive high seas also pose a permanent threat to the roofs of buildings.

Though the Rapid Intervention Batallion BIR and the gendarmes are present in Bakassi and actually help in ferrying people and goods to and from the peninsular, apart from ensuring the protection of the predominantly Nigerian population, as well as the symbols of Cameroonian occupation, observers reckon that such intimidating presence of men in uniform only scares away Cameroonians who dismiss the area as an arena of war. So far too few Cameroonians have braved the odds and elected to go and settle in Bakassi.

This absence of Cameroonians in Bakassi has only created a void that the seemingly daring and perhaps, more enterprising Nigerians have hastened and taken advantage of. They have flooded the place and are reaping the many goodies that the peninsular offers.

The majority Nigerian inhabitants of Bakassi admit that they have had to cope with the harsh realities of the area for ages especially giving that they have no alternative.

Quite on the contrary, Cameroonians who are assigned to carry out projects for the government in Bakassi only complain of difficulties encountered: inaccessibility, high cost of transporting building materials to the peninsular, incommodious living environments, threats of pirate attacks ete etc.

For her part, the government has not seen the need to make special and/or extra financial allocations for projects in Bakassi so as to enable its contractors to be able to adapt the buildings and other structures erected to sea side conditions.

After visiting some of the islands in Bakassi, The Median noticed that many contractors had abandoned their projects mid-way. We were also hinted that many other contractors never ever kick-started theirs their projects at all; that in connivance with some government officials, these unscrupulous contractors only signed out all or part of the money for the projects and have since disappeared. Unofficial estimates put the amount of government funds collected and salted away in abandoned contracts at several billions cfa. And most of these abandoned projects were won by companies owned by CPDM barons and some senior military officials, we were told.

For her part, the President of the Committee for Follow-up and Coordination of priority projects in Bakassi, MrsNdoh Bertha Bakata, who doubles as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, blames the abandonment of development projects in Bakassi on the difficult accessibilty to the peninsular by land. She says the perenial rainy season and the high cost of transporting materials by sea only makes execution of projects difficult.

But the Divisional Delegate for Public Contracts, Aka Martin Ntioga sees it differently. He blames the abandonment of projects in Bakassi to the fact that most often these projects are won by people who know little or nothing about Bakassi: People who cannot brave the harsh realities in and around Bakassi.

Mr. Aka notes, on the contrary, that local contractors do not always complain; and they finish and deliver all their jobs on time.