Far North Region: MINFI boss tasks customs, frontier councils to revive trade between Cameroon, Nigeria.

This, the member of government revealed, will increase internally generated revenue for the state by the Customs department on one hand and the four frontier councils on the other. 

Motaze was speaking while chairing a protocol accord signing ceremony between the Customs department and the Mora, Kolofata, Fotokol and Bourha Councils. 

The protocol accord was signed Wednesday January 17 in Limani, headquarters of Mora Subdivision, Mayo Sava Division of the Far North Region.

The Director General of Customs department, Edwin Fongod Nuvaga, signed on behalf of his institution while the Mayors of Mora, Kolofata, Fotokol and Bourha Councils, signed for the decentralised structures. 

The protocol accord signed establishes the setting up of Trading Centres, to serve as single points of entry for goods into border localities in the hinterland, warehouses or customs clearance areas between the Customs administration and the Councils concerned. 

The four border councils, it should be said, are the first to experiment with the setting up of Trading Centers.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Motaze said choice of setting up these partnerships, to create Trading Centres, is intended to reinforce the decentralisation policy advocated by the Head of State for sustainable development and the well-being of the populations of the aforementioned localities in particular, and those of the Far North Region in general. 

He explained that the Trading Centres are enshrined in the provisions of Law N° 2010/015 of December 21, 2010, establishing the Finance Law of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2011 financial year and implemented in Decree N° 2014/2946 of September 12, 2014 on the creation, organisation and operation of Trading Centres in border areas. 

The protocol accord, he said, is the culmination of a long process of implementing these levers for development and the fight against smuggling. 

He said the Trading Centres will help in combatting fraud and smuggling by providing the means to organise, secure, facilitate and regulate foreign trade operations in border localities.

In addition, Minister Motaze said Councils that have set up the Trading Centres benefit from an annual financial allocation, calculated on the basis of the budget revenues generated by the customs offices located in the said municipalities to support the investment made.

In the same vein, he added that, the implementation will not only help to combat smuggling and customs fraud, but will also generate direct or indirect employment, which could benefit the youth of the municipalities in question. 

He described the Trading Centers as a real option for strengthening decentralisation. Motaze said it is an added value for the national economy, as intended by President Biya. 

“I therefore invite you to focus your attention on the benefits to be derived from these Memoranda of Understanding, with a view to achieving these noble objectives,” he said, while echoing President Biya’s interest in the development of the Far North Region. 

He said the partnership between the Customs department and the border councils “must remain a strategic, strong and relevant force, a cornerstone in the implementation of the Trading Centres”. 

Enter Mora Mayor 

The Mayor of Mora, Shetima Amidu, who took the podium as spokesperson for the concerned councils, said their area was the epicenter of attacks by the Boko Haram terrorist sect. 

He described the protocol accords as bearers of hope for the devastated communities as a result of atrocities carried out by Boko Haram sect on towns and villages, causing massive destruction leading to total breakdown of community life; the fleeing of not only the population, but their traditional rulers also. 

He said the protocol accord also represents assurance of economic revival and a return to normal life in the distressed communities. 

The Mayor made a fervent appeal to those who fled from their villages and towns to come back, alluring that there is no economic operator who would like to come and set up a business or carry out an investment project in an area where there are no human beings. 

He regretted that Boko Haram atrocities have crumbled communities, leaving the people in misery and the land uninhabited.

He expressed hope that the protocol accords would change the situation and bring new zest into the economic, political and social life of the area. He called on the government to make its presence felt in the frontier communities by improving the road network, building customs offices like the one in Limani in the other councils, providing accommodation and other incentives to finance, but especially customs officials working in the area, among other demands.

The Mayor expressed dismay that since 2013 that electricity supply was disrupted in the area, it has not been restored. 

He used the opportunity to plead with the Minister to cause electricity supply to be restored in the area, harping that there can be no serious economic activity in a place that lacks energy supply. 

The event was witnessed by several elite of the Far North Region, administrative, municipal, traditional and religious authorities.