More than 20 billion CFA francs already invested in Bakassi

According to Bertha Doh, head of the Committee for Coordination and monitoring of priority projects in the Bakassi peninsula, the State of Cameroon has already invested more than 20 billion CFA francs for the development of the peninsula, which has been previously source of conflict between Cameroon and Nigeria.

“We learned that the bulk of these investments was financed by the Cameroon government. However, partners such as UNESCO, the European Union and the French cooperation contributed these efforts with about 1 billion CFA francs”, she said.

Investments, made essentially concerned, construction of basic infrastructure and the implementation of the Cameroonian administration services. Thus, since 2007, several health centers have been built, as well as schools, fish drying and storing equipment, economic activity in the peninsula is dominated by artisanal fishing.

Remember, territory rich in oil and fisheries resources of 1000 km2 situated on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon, Bakassi was the cause of a serious dispute between the two countries, which nearly caused a war in 1994 following an invasion of the territory by the Nigerian army.

After a judiciary decision preferred by the Head of State of Cameroon, instead of an armed conflict, a judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, issued in October 10, 2002 legal sovereignty of the territory to Cameroon.

Decision was made according to the treaty signed in 1913 between the two colonial powers of the time, Britain, who was Nigeria, and Germany, which occupied the Cameroon.

The decision of the ICJ ordered the Nigerian Army to withdraw from the peninsula by August 14, 2008. The withdrawal took place smoothly to the deadline, at the same time as the two countries signed the agreement retrocession in Calabar, capital of Cross River State of Nigeria.