No Time for Recreation:

Atanga Nji Sends Grim Signal to Sleeping Civil Administrators

-Orders SDOs and Governors to feed him with bi-daily situation reports of the territories under their command

By Tanyi Kenneth Musa in Yaounde

Paul Atanga Nji

The Minister of Territorial Administration, MINAT, has fired a grim signal to SDOs of Divisions and Governors of regions, ordering them to collect and send to his office in Yaounde minute-by-minute reports on the security situation prevailing in the territories under their command.

            Paul Atanga Nji issued the order in a service note published on 7 March 2018, barely three days after taking over office as the new minister of interior in Cameroon. He was appointed to the MINAT in a cabinet shake up on 2 March 2018.

            Atanga Nji who doubles as the Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council, was also formerly Minister in Charge of Special Duties at the Presidency. He held that position for nine years (2009 to 2018) before his appointment as the MINAT.

            Commentators say by instructing Governors and SDOs to report to him twice daily about happenings in their areas of command, Atanga Nji is stamping his authority and calling the bluff of the civil administrators (Chefs Terres), who are said to consider themselves as the real owners of the MINAT and who might rightly or wrongly consider Atanga Nji as an outsider or better still, an intruder into their domain.

            But whatever the ‘chefs terres’ might think, they have every reason to oblige to Atanga Nji’s instruction, especially as it is understood that he has been sent to the MINAT by President Biya with special instructions and for a special mission. Disrespecting Atanga Nji therefore will mean disrespecting President Biya, with the consequences that this can invite to the defaulter(s).

            In his service note to the Governors and SDOs, Minister Atanga Nji ordered them to send a comprehensive report of the socio-political climate in their respective territories of command to their immediate hierarchies for onward transmission to him. By virtue of the order therefore, DOs will channel their reports to SDOs who will in turn compile and channel same to the Governors for onward transmission to the MINAT.

            This routine duty by the ‘chef terres’ would be done twice daily: at 9.30 am and 2.30 pm for DOs; 10.30 am and 3.30 pm for SDOs; and 11 am and 4 pm for Governors.

            In his ‘Confidential Note’ to the ‘chef terres’, the MINAT emphasized to them that it is with the view to feeding the head of state with reliable, minute-by-minute information about the socio-political life of the nation.

            Apart from these routine cables, Atanga Nji urged the administrators to report with immediate effect any unusual happenings in their jurisdictions for onward transmission to Paul Biya.

            With this rather firm instruction to civil administrators, Atanga Nji has vindicated political speculators who said he has been sent to the MINAT for a special mission to do everything to halt the nefarious activities of the marauding and very lethal Ambazonia fighters, who have continued terrorizing both military and civilian populations in the NW and SW regions. Whether Atanga Nji will succeed in this mission will only be known later.

            But what is sure for now is that the ‘Wonder boy from Old Town Abakwa’ has already swung into action. And it was no surprise therefore that in a related development, Atanga Nji also instructed the Governors of the NW and SW regions to ban motorbike taxis and circulation of motorbikes in some restive areas of their regions.

            With these early actions one can say without fear of contradiction that Atanga Nji is out for a final showdown with the separatist Ambazonians, and only time will validate or invalidate what can be described as ‘Atanga Nji’s formula of fear’.