Crisis in NW, SW costs ENEO 75 billion FCFA losses in five years – Report.

The management of ENEO specified that the report covers the period 2017 to 2022, and outlines the damages the company had suffered in these regions where the Anglophones crisis rages on.

Despite this, management assured that ENEO had maintained its operations in the North West and South West, though the deteriorated security situation had “jeopardised its agents, equipment, deployment and finances”.  

ENEO management harped on its commitment to continue providing electrical service in the two troubled regions despite the fact that it records losses of around 15 billion FCFA every year, or over 75 billion FCFA in unbilled distributed energy and unpaid billed energy over the last 5 years.

“Continuity of service in the face of insecurity has been maintained, thanks to the good condition of distribution lines and transformers. As of the end of 2022, the availability rate stood at 84% in the South West Region and 80% in the North West Region,” the report stated.

However, the company pointed out that, the above-mentioned condition of the distribution network and transformers during the period under review contrasts with the deterioration of other electrical equipment installed in this part of the country. 

Vandalised installations

The report also zoomed on the challenges ENEO management faces as it concerns the vandalisation and setting ablaze of some of their installations by armed groups. 

It insisting that many out-of-service facilities are primarily concentrated in what are termed "red zones," where approximately 50% of infrastructure in the South West and 80% in the North West are affected. 

“These facilities have fallen victim to vandalism or natural deterioration. Efforts to rehabilitate these structures are underway, taking into consideration safety measures,” the report noted.

ENEO is working with both willing residents and the authorities. The risk to field teams is permanent. 

Vandalised, torched ENEO installation in crisis-hit NW, SW

“It is in this context that network extension work; some twenty kilometers more in the Fako region and the reconstruction of destroyed networks have been carried out," the company management stated in the report.

It should be recalled that the Anglophone crisis has been a burden on businesses operating in the affected regions, many of which have experienced vandalism of their equipment and have had their employees abducted, subjected to violence, and even killed. Faced with this climate of insecurity, numerous economic operators have had to relocate their activities. 

Others, like the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, a state-owned agro-industrial company and the second-largest employer in the country after the the government, had to temporarily suspend its operations. However, the company has gradually resumed activities following an observed period of calm on the ground.

According to government estimates, the crisis led to a national loss of 0.8 percentage points of GDP growth in 2019 and 0.3 percentage points in 2020. "These growth point losses correspond to a cumulative real loss in national GDP of 421.3 billion FCFA between 2017 and 2020," said the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Paul Tasong, while addressing members of parliament on November 23, 2021. 

He was presenting the Reconstruction Plan for the North West, South West, and Far North regions. 

Similarly, due to this crisis, the value of trade between Cameroon and Nigeria between 2015 and 2019 decreased from 15.6 billion FCFA to 2.9 billion FCFA, representing an 81% decline. 

"These declines are observed in both exports (-68.9%) and imports (-85%)," Paul Tasong explained.