NW Governor warns against sale of land to foreigners

Adolphe Lele L’Afrique, Governor of the North West region on a socio-economic tour of Furu-Awa subdivision, in Menchum division, February 18 warned the population of the municipality against selling land to Nigerians with whom the subdivision shares a 125km long boundary.

He issued the warning following information from the D.O of Furu-Awa, Amadu Shuaibu Ibrahim, that some traditional rulers in the area are involved in selling land to Nigerians. The governor who told the people to dissociate from such practices said his administration will sanction heavily anyone caught in such acts.

On other matters, he appealed to the residents to be vigilant against any intrusion by militants of the terrorist group Boko Haram.

“As far as Boko Haram is concerned, luckily there are no threats in our region but we should remain vigilant. I’m happy to have seen school children carrying sign boards with messages of support to our Head of State and Armed Forces in the fight against Boko Haram, but they can’t do anything if they don’t have the support of the local population.” L’Afrique said.

The governor’s tour to Furu-Awa also gave him opportunity to chair a trans-border polio session convened by the Regional Delegate of Public Health and attended by both Cameroonians and Nigerians. He reiterated the need for all parents to work closely with health officials to ensure the vaccination of children 0-5 years against the polio virus.

Mayor Sanangbidob Phanuel Zan-diri of Furu- Awa council, who talked to The Cameroon Journal during the governor’s tour, regretted that his municipality has been abandoned to itself as the government is not doing much to carry out development projects in the area. He cited so many abandoned projects in the municipality including classrooms, health units, agric post, among others.

Business transactions here are dominated by the use of the Nigerian Naira than the Cameroon FCFA. “Economically, we are Nigerians because every week, people here cross over to Nigeria to sell food stuff cultivated in Furu-Awa because we do not have roads to sell it in Cameroon markets. They in turn buy basic necessities for household use.” The Mayor said.

Many civil servants posted to work in Furu-Awa end up residing in Wum because of the very poor road network linking the area and the divisional headquarter Wum.

The governor and aids used bikes and later a flying boat across the Katsina Ala River before reaching Furu-Awa town. Adolphe Lele L’Afrique is the first governor to visit Furu-Awa using the road after the last Chief Executive Officer who visited the subdivision some two decades back, by helicopter.