State Budget: Priority On Development Projects

Money to be spent on public matters in Cameroon in 2024 has been fixed at FCFA 6,740,100 billion. It is called the State budget scrutinized and voted in the nation’s Parliament and enacted by the Head of State last 19 December, 2023.
As a follow-up, the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, led an expedition to Maroua, capital of the Far North Region, on 16 January, 2024 where he officially launched the State budget. He called on vote holders to exercise care in collecting and spending the public funds and urged contractors to sit up with proper execution of public contracts. Simultaneously, the figures of the budget and procedures to manage it were presented to the entire nation at various Regional headquarters by finance experts from the Ministry of Finance. The money luminaries underscored that the budget shall be realised through diligent collection of taxes, custom duties and bilateral support on the one hand. On the other hand, expenditure shall be for the running cost in providing services and paying staff, and to invest in development projects.
A major highlight of this year’s budget is the earmarked development investment to satisfy public expectation, ascertain the well-being of citizens and ensure economic and social advancement of the country. In that wise, projects meant to sustain and enhance good living must be such that prioritise health and education for all, employment for the growing number of youth, as well as investing to protect business ventures. Business ventures would basically need electricity to power industries for production. Households need energy for lighting and sustenance of modern and civilised life. Good health basically requires well equipped hospitals and sure water supply. Good education needs adequately equipped workshops and laboratories as well as the availability of teachers who are encouragingly paid. Good roads facilitate movement and transportation. Reliable electricity supply would check rural exodus and enable the active populations to stay where they are and develop themselves. All of these fall in the domain of investment for livelihood and the future.
In Cameroon this year, some of the investment projects underscored are located in crisis-hit Regions of Far North, North West and South West. In the South West, for example, the Kumba - Ekondo Titi stretch of road construction bound to swallow some FCFA 8 billion is already underway by the Military. Equally, the Bangem-Nguti road construction to cost some FCFA 7 billion shall constitute a marked relief for the population especially as the areas concerned harbour fertile soils and able farmers. They just need to have arteries to evacuate their produce from farms to markets.
The population of the South West has on several occasions echoed the need for the Dschang-Menji-Bakebe 90-kilometre road to be constructed and coated with bitumen. This would serve a mammoth population in movement and transportation of produce, shorten their travel distances trading with Nigeria and open such hinterlands to urbanised areas of the country. Above all, the merits of good roads cannot be exhausted without mention of security advantages they offer. Some of these areas begging to be disenclaved are strongholds for non-state armed groups and and even terrorists like the Boko Haram for many years due to difficult access by the regular military.
It is equally in the pipeline that Cameroon’s lone oil refinery located in Limbe will receive a rehabilitation and expansion for better production. The Tiko airstrip shall be rehabilitated to become a veritable airport. The Limbe deep seaport with the potential to employ hundreds of hands will see the light of day any time soon. These are economic uplifting projects for the nation surely to enhance employment of idle youths and boost income for the country.
The realisation of development projects should be a priority in the Cameroon public budget for several reasons. First and foremost, investing in development projects, such as road infrastructure, electricity supply, water provision, education, healthcare, and technology, is essential for the economic and social advancement of the country. These projects create jobs and stabilise social life, stimulate economic growth, and improve the overall living standards for citizens. Overall, prioritising development projects in the publi...