Boko Haram, Bakassi handover:

 Paul Biya wholeheartedly embraces Nigeria now!

After long years of uncertain relations between Cameroon and Nigeria, the new understanding between Yaounde and Abuja over the Boko Haram menace, and the acknowledgement by the Buhari regime of Bakassi as Cameroonian territory, now seem to have convinced Paul Biya of the sincerity and goodwill of Abuja

By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde

President Biya and Buhari are the best of friends now

For a man who is understood to be usually cold and taciturn towards his neighbours, it surprised many that Paul Biya made two successive visits to Abuja, Nigeria in less than two weeks.

                Paul Biya first flew to Abuja for a state visit on 3-4 May 2016. Then 10 days later on 13 May 2016 he travelled again to the Nigerian capital for a security summit on Boko Haram.

                Biya’s remarks both scripted and unscripted, during the two outings, lend credence to speculation that he is now less suspicious of Abuja and very ready to do business with the western neighbour.

                During his first visit to Abuja, state television CRTV reported that Paul Biya and his Nigerian counterpart held several one-on-one discussions on a wide range of bilateral, regional and multi-lateral issues.

                The reports said Paul Biya was unusually warm and brotherly towards Muhamadou Buhari. His warmth betrayed a new dawn in the relations with Nigeria; relations which had been barely cordial at best, in the past several decades.

                Paul Biya and Muhamadou Buhari commended the collective efforts of the Cameroonian and Nigerian military, under the multi-national Task Force, in checking the Boko Haram menace in the Northern extremes of both countries.

                But most reassuring to Paul Biya was Buhari’s endorsement of the Green Tree Accord and the Hand over of Bakassi to Cameroon. The acknowledgement of Bakassi as Cameroonian territory was certainly the last gesture that convinced Biya about Buhari’s goodwill and sincerity in dealing with Yaounde.

                It should be recalled that following the successful hand-over of Bakassi to Cameroon in August 2008, President Biya, in a 10-minute televised address to the nation, announced a new era of intimate ties with Nigeria. He said it was time for both countries to seize the opportunity and develop their relations in all fields.

                President Biya announced that Cameroon will honour all the commitments of the Green Tree Accord – notably that Nigerians living in Bakassi will be allowed a five-year period of grace, during which Cameroon will not oblige them to acquire residence permits or pay any taxes.

                Paul Biya referred to Nigerians in Cameroon as brothers and sisters and promised that government will guarantee their security and protect their rights, so long as they respected the laws.

                “I want to reaffirm that Cameroon will honour all commitments made concerning our Nigerian brothers and sisters who have chosen to reside in Cameroon, that is, those living in Bakassi as well as those who, in large numbers, have been in Cameroon for many years. I want to reassure them that their security and their rights will always be guaranteed,” Biya pledged.

                But the euphoria of the Bakassi handover was not to last for long. In 2009 the phenomenon of Boko Haram started rearing its ugly head in North Eastern Nigeria. Unable to contain the insurgency, Nigerian authorities started suspecting Cameroon of providing a hide-out for the Islamist criminals. Yaounde did not take the accusation kindly and so decided to allow Nigeria to fight its enemy alone.

                Even when it became evident that Boko Haram had infiltrated into Cameroon and was actually recruiting young Cameroonians, Yaounde and Abuja refused to concert and profess a consensus solution for the menace. Instead they continued trading accusations against each other. The terrorists took advantage of the phoney war between Abuja and Yaounde and consolidated their activities in both countries.

                However, with the coming of Muhamadou Buhari to power in Nigeria and following the successful creation of a Joint Multi-national Task Force to tackle Boko Haram, there has been a remarkable thaw in the icy relations between Abuja and Yaounde.

                On 29 July 2015 Muhamadou Buhari paid a state visit to Cameroon. During that visit the Nigerian leader and his Cameroonian counterpart started charting the way forward for a new era of peace and fraternity which would enable the two countries, hand-in-hand, to fight Boko Haram.

                President Biya’s two successive visits to Abuja this month not only helped to consolidate the new fraternity between Yaounde and Abuja, it also confirmed the intentions of both leaders about the future of relations between their two countries.

                Analysts posit that the renewed warmth in Yaounde-Abuja relations is proof that the long-borne fear by Yaounde that the ‘giant of Africa’ may swallow up Cameroon was mere wishful thinking. It has also rubbished fears and suspicion that Nigeria may be supporting the Anglophones who have continued voicing their dissatisfaction with the 1961 reunification.

                Analysts say the new cordiality in Yaounde-Abuja relations will be meaningless if Cameroon fails to open up to the vast Nigerian market. It is worthy to note that Nigeria has a population of over 175 million people. If this enormous population is combined with the 23 million Cameroonians it would only create a big opportunity for Cameroonian importers and exporters, the analysts contend. But they add that Cameroon must develop her productive sector if she must make the most of the vast market offered by Nigeria. This was one of the recommendations of the two-day economic conference that ended in Yaounde on Wednesday last week.