Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: Cameroon office trains stakeholders to ease country's readmission.

The Interim Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry, chaired the ceremony.

Officials said the training was done six months after another training that permitted the government to present the 2022 report. 

Prof Fuh Calistus expressed optimism that government will meet the September to October 2025 deadline for the presentation of its 2023 report.

He disclosed that the Prime Minister has signed a text ordering stakeholders to furnish statistics on operations to the national EITI office. 

The minister said compilation of the annual reports by the Cameroon EITI would be easy when stakeholders start complying with the Prime Ministerial text.

The mining sector, Prof Fuh Calistus said, occupies a very important place in the country’s economy. With the text signed by the Prime Minister, he assured stakeholders that the country is taking its position as a pillar of transparency in the extractive industries sector in the Central African sub region.

Transparency and other best practices, he told stakeholders, will be upheld in the sector to maintain a clean slate for Cameroon in EITI. 

He further disclosed that the Prime Minister’s text also allows the Minister of mines to issue different categories of exploration and exploitation licenses. 

The move, he said, will further reduce bottlenecks that existed in the past and expatiate reports publication.

He told Committee members that with the text signed, 2023 EITI codes can be put to use. The goal, he said, remains to ensure the country’s readmission into EITI.

Prof Fuh Calistus stated that the 2023 report would be issued two months before the expiry date for receipt at EITI’s global headquarters. The country’s 2022 report, he disclosed, is already online and available for public consultation.

The Minister reminded members of the new exigencies that have been raised concerning the preparation of the 2023 report. He urged actors to work to meet the new requirements.

He hinted on the contribution of the Directorate General of Taxes as EITI seeks to know who benefits from different taxes, transparency in collection and use of such revenue.

Prof Fuh Calistus also stated that private enterprises have to submit documents for assessments to ensure shortcomings are also addressed.

The minister also hinted that henceforth, State corporations like the National Hydrocarbons Corporation, SNH; the National Mining Corporation, SONAMINES, and the National Oil Refining Corporation, SONARA, would furnish the Independent Administrator with statistics showing their beneficiaries. 

The minister praised the Independent Administrator and the expert partners, for standing by the government to make sure Cameroon gets a clean slate in the coming report to attain readmission into EITI.

The minister announced that in conformity with law number 2023/014 of 19th December, 2023, on the mineral code, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, had signed more texts of application surrounding the law in addition to those signed in November 2024. 

As per the new legislation, he said criteria for the issuance of research permits, authorisation to engage in artisanal exploitation of minerals, and semi-mechanized and full exploitation on industrial scale, and commercialization of minerals are now available.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3486 of Friday June 27, 2025