- Cameroonian authorities have secured financial aid from the European Union to develop infrastructure and social services on the impoverished Bakassi Peninsula, a territory recently handed over to Cameroon from Nigeria. Bakassi residents had protested their transfer to Cameroon, necessitating a quick development of the peninsula.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni, the Head of the European Commission to Cameroon, Javier Puyol, revealed that the European Union in the months ahead, will make available the sum of CFA 2.7 billion (euro 4.1 million) to help the government of Cameroon provide health, education, potable water and other social amenities to populations of Bakassi, Darack and other territories Nigeria recently transferred to the country.
Mr Puyol who had just returned from a tour of Cameroon's English-speaking South West province, including the Bakassi area, with a delegation of the European Commission, told the press that he went to Bakassi. He pledged his institution's commitment to further assist Cameroon in its bid to prevent conflict in the region and to "consolidate its authority by fully playing the role that government must play in relation to its citizens." However he added that the European Union would not be involved in tarring roads in the Bakassi area "because the European Union road programme is focused on the international axis, facilitating trade links between neighbouring countries."
Talking about the purpose of their mission to Bakassi, Mr Puyol said, "we commissioned a school and a health centre in Bakassi financed to the tune of by the European Union in 100 million CFA Francs following the request the Prime Minister made to me a year and a half ago, just after the transfer of most of the peninsula from Nigeria to Cameroon."
The visit enabled members of the European Commission to see the living conditions of the people. "Basically our conclusion is that there is a lot more to be done in Bakassi. Firstly because the people are very poor and also because it is a very sensitive area due to the transfer of sovereignty," he concluded.
Mr Puyol further suggested measures that could motivate civil servants and other workers to go and render services to the Bakassi population. According to Mr Puyol, "it is difficult to find people who are ready to work in Bakassi due to hard living conditions. It may be necessary to look for local people who are ready to work in the area. In that case, the government," he intimated, "will have to make extra efforts to make it appealing to people to accept to work in Bakassi but not to stay for long periods."
Before the European Commission delegation went to Bakassi, they also visited the Muea-Kumba road to assess the level of the construction work. The 62-kilometre road construction project, also financed by the European Union, according to Mr Puyol, is expected to be inaugurated in August 2009.
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