Cameroonian-Born Nigerians Want Citizenship

By Francis Tim Mbom

Nigerians born and bred in Cameroon have requested that the Cameroon Government to relax its laws on nationality so that they can naturally, too, have the right of Cameroonian citizenship.

The law on Cameroonian citizenship is predicated on Ordinance No. 2 of 1959 and Ordinance No. 68 0f 1968.One of the clauses of this law states that birth within the territory of Cameroon does not automatically confer citizenship on one.

The only exceptions the law gives are of children who can be proven to have been born of stateless parents or of foreign parents and at least one of these foreign parents having being born, him or herself, in Cameroon.

This has frustrated foreigners, especially Nigerians, who would have loved to gain Cameroonian citizenship.The Post met the President of the Nigerian Union in Cameroon, Chief Andrew Eyeanwan Essien who was born and bred in Cameroon some 60 years ago, but has never obtained Cameroonian citizenship.

"The laws of the land do not permit me to be a Cameroonian of which I would have loved to be," Chief Essien said."In Cameroon I am a Nigerian, when I go to Nigeria, I am considered as a visitor," he added.

Chief Essien was speaking to The Post last week on the eve of the repatriation of 13 Nigerians. Asked why they were going back home, Chief Essien said the repartees had come to the decision to return them home because they were no longer to pay FCFA 120,000 for residence permits.

Essien said that for the past two years, they have through the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, of Nigeria, sent thousands of their nationals back home.
He added that most of them, like himself, were people who were born and bred in Cameroon.

The Chief said while there are about four to five million Nigerians in Cameroon, some 12,000 have already indicated their intention to go back."Nigerians are really an ambitious lot. Most of them come here to do business. But they face a lot of obstacles in Cameroon: the problem of residence permit being paramount and obtaining bank loans for business, too, is not easy for us, here," he said.

Back in Nigeria, he said, a foreigner born there automatically gains Nigerian nationality.
"Cameroonians born in Nigeria are automatically Nigerians," said Essien.

Same Ordeal

Chinedu Nneke Anbiobi is a Nigerian national and a business man who is married to a Cameroonian and resides in Limbe.Like Chief Essien, he was born in Cameroon 52 years ago. Though he is married to a Cameroonian, he said this has still not exonerated him from the ordeals his other countrymen have been going through.

"Even when you have your papers, you still are insulted not to talk of me who was born here in Cameroon. Sometimes, I get insults like you "Biafran, go back to your country," lamented Chinedu.

The old man said he has eight children with his Cameroonian wife. In spite of this, they are not considered Cameroonians.He said he had sought and legally obtained Cameroonian nationality for the children yet the police have never left him alone.

"I have been paying for residence permits for these children in spite of the court ruling in favour of their applications to obtain Cameroonian citizenship," he said.

Barrister Monono's Experience

Barrister Ngale Monono is a Limbe-based lawyer who lived in Nigeria for ten years. He is a graduate of the Nigerian Law School of Victoria Island, Lagos."I lived in Nigeria for more than ten years. Nobody, I mean no police or otherwise, ever asked me about papers. I lived in Nigeria very comfortably," said Monono.

The Barrister regrets the fact that Nigerians born and bred in Cameroon find it difficult to be accepted as nationals here.According to him, these Nigerians should be given even the right to vote.

"They pay their taxes here; they have lived all their lives here. I believe they should even be given the right to vote," he said.He added that Government's reluctance to grant them the freedom to become Cameroonians was instead playing negatively to the growth of the economy.

"By such draconian tactics, we are losing a crop of a very highly motivated people when they decide on going back home," he said.To him, Nigerians are a religious lot, hardworking and very thrifty.

Comments

[rexon]

As far as Southern Cameroonians are concerned, a Nigerian Born in Cameroonian can take Cameroonian citizenship if he or she wants. If La Republique wants to start repatriating people on grounds that they are not born of Cameroonians parents and thus are not entitled to Cameroonian nationality, they should start repatriating the numerous beti's, eton's, etc whose heritage can be traced in equitorial guinea like Ondo Ndong.

I think the idea of repatriating Nigerians is a political creation intended to brand ALL southern Cameroonians Biafrans.

[Ma Mary]

La republicans refer to Southern Cameroonians as Biafrans. OK, thanks I am a Biafran. Frogs, get the hell out of Biafra!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rexon]

correction:
Nigerian born in Cameroon is cameroonian.
not born of cameroonian

[mk the southerner]

Paul and his brother the French are not stupid they know that we Southern Cameroonians enjoy very much their policy of assimilation,as can be proven with all the activities of John.Letting Nigerians acquire citizen ship means letting Southern Cameroonians to reason, to graduat from Anglofools.A thing they will not like even to dream about.Should the Nigerian government keep to her court ruling on the case pitting the state of Nigeria and the Southern Cameroonians,which came up with a victory for Southern Cameroons (the Abuja declaration)Then all these will be solved. So with all due respect i beg on all Nigerians to stand behind the SCNC and victory for shore will be ours Thank you
MK the Southerner.

[Riccardo]

Vive la Republique du Cameroun!
May God th Republic of Cameroon!

Riccardo
CAADIM

[Riccardo]

May God bless the Republic of Cameroon!

Riccardo.
CAADIM

[Kumbaboy]

There is a legal solution to this mess.

Let Cameroonian born Nigerians take their case to the African Court of Human Rights in Banjul and expose the hypocrisy and entrenched tribalism of La Republique du Cameroun.

The irony is that these politicians in Yaounde are usually seeking to gain French citizenship while displaying the worst form of fascist tribalism at home.

End it.

[Cheboy]

Now, let us all in the diaspora compare who has more stringent immigration laws: The Western countries that we accuse of discrimination due to their immigration policies or African countries like Cameroon, in which several generations of originally non-cameroonian parents remain foreigners in a country that they identify as home.

Some of us grew up with Ibo children in Kumba and even Hausas from Nigeria. We really did not care where they come from, either because we were not aware of the laws, or we did not understand what it means to be a foreigner. All I know is that these people felt at home in Cameroon and had a significant contribution to our economy. When I found myself in the diaspora, I began to understand how strict our hosts are when it comes to immigration laws. Many of us in the diaspora have described some Western countries as racist, and terribly discriminating in many forms. We always claim that citizenship laws in the Western countries are too stringent. I am now begining to think that some of us were/are not aware of our own immigration laws in Cameroon and the level of discrimination in our own society. If neighbouring villages fight and kill many, if a certain tribe dominates the government and hence decision-making in Cameroon, if anglophone Cameroonians continue to experience discrimination, if you prefer to work with someone of your tribe and show enormous discrimination against someone from just a neighbouring tribe, even when you all are in the diaspora, then we should not even blame a white man who discriminates against a blackman or a foreigner because there is too much discrimination amongst us.

This article should draw our attention back home so that we shout at our leaders in exactly the same way that we shout over here, whenever we feel discriminated.

[rexon]

Cheboy,

Your analysis of the situation is brilliant. We always rush to criticises others but always fail to criticise ourselves when evil is hapenning in our backyard. I remember a few months ago when thesame kind of stories were pasted here, some rushed to commend the government arguing that Nigerians are very dangerous. When i reminded them how Cameroonians are feymen all over, they could'nt defend themselves. It is a shame that we are treating others like this, yet we want to be treated better when in a western country. That shows that Cameroonians are more of an introvert.

[Zandré]

No country is perfect,is not only a cameroonian problem,is an international problem,I did study in Nigeria and some paysans also had problems getting naturalized,Africa is very complex look at the Ivorian Crisis's.It's a pity because the world should have had a common naturalization law.some countries here in europe do give the child citizenship immediately after birth while others do when the child turns 18yrs.there are factors which do count,like political(population,the greater the population the greater your say or power) economical.Countries do change their laws to reflects their needs.God save Africa.

[Watesih]

Zandre',
That was succint,and brilliant.All these antics are politically motivated.We delved into this same topic sometime last year,and we will continue to make it clear that Nigerians are dangerous.They are not dangerous because they are monsters,but because the dictatorship in Yaounde has sleepless nights imagining them passing on their indomitable spirit to other Cameroonians.They dread this spirit especially in the situation of an uprising.
Nigerians have fought all types of wars,lived all types of coups,and adversity,
so the French sponsored pimps in Yaounde think they will naturally come to the aid of their English speaking brothers in a situation of war.Ondo Ndong,and his people at Kye Ossi are all Gabonese,but they are free to embezzle our money at will.During the first student strike in the University Of Yaounde in the 1990s,the authorities in Yaounde branded them as Nigerians.This is empirical evidence to show how fear gnaws their livers when they think of Nigerians.
My second point has to do with the economic terrorism some of our selected tribes,and businessmen are conducting in Cameroon.Anytime the Nigerians present here start growing stronger businesswise,the mostly Cpdm stalwarts will want to weaken them,so the terrain should be left for them alone.Also if the Nigerians present here become richer,the living conditions of the two English speaking provinces will also improve,something France will never accept.
The French have advised their puppets to keep us weak economically,in order not to have money to procure weaponry in case we want to stand up to them.We don`t need to go back to the sing-song of SONARA and the other parastatals situated in this part of the country ,but paying taxes in Douala.
As Zandre' mentioned earlier,they can`t forget the situation that is prevailing in Cote D'Ivoire,where the fallback position of the rebels is in Burkina Faso.About 3 million Burkinabes are settled in the north of this country,and are bent on seeing to it that one of theirs Alassane Ouatara should be respected,and treated like any other Ivorian,for having been born here.They just want to outrightly avoid this same scenario in Camroon.Nigerians who have lived in Cameroon for so long would have known by now that hey are not welcome for palpable political reasons,and stop living in a fool`s paradise.

[Muki StoneHall]

The Cameroonian police and some other officials enrich themselves greatly by constantly harassing and extorting money from these Nigerians.How will you expect these evil and greedy men to survive if the Nigerians are allowed to naturalized and be protected by the law like other Cameroonians?
The analogies made to the diaspora above are quite brilliant.But there exist a huge difference between citizenship in Cameroon(maybe most of Africa in general)and citizenship in the Western world.In the western world, the gov't protects the citizens.In Cameroon the citizens protect the gov't. In the western world the citizens benefit from the gov't while in Cameroon, the gov't benefits from the citizens.My statements may appear rather sweeping and vague but they are true.I give you an example: in most conflict zones, Western countries do their best to evacuate its citizens.In Lebanon for e.g. planes are ships were chattered by Western gov't to evacuate their citizens.Did Cameroon(or any other African country) ever thought that some of her citizens could have been trapped in the middle of the conflict?
The bottom line is this:granting citizenship in the West is a burden on the gov't. In Cameroon it is a burden on the individual. Naturalization laws can be strict in the West because the gov't must, and will spend on you as its citizen. What does the Cameroonian gov't spend on its citizens.
The Swedish gov't, for e.g is appropriating over 10.92 million SEK (over 700 million Fcfa) for plans to accept immigrants from Iraq alone during the next two years.Most of them will have access to free education(at all levels), health care etc like other Swedes. This clearly will be a burden on the gov't.
Could someone explain to me, what will be the burden on the Cameroon gov't if these Nigerians are allowed to naturalized?

[Zandré]

This issue is very complex,we might be looking at it from a short distance and not from a long distance,most foreigners in any nation is there mostly for economical reasons,working and sending the cash back home for development projects,some invest in their country of residence.Sweden is accepting Iraqis not just because the gov't will spend money,the UN will give them money and those immigrants will work to booster the and the political stand of Sweden(mind u in europe if u've the population u've the power, check ,France,Germany,England .Sweden is just a regional power in Scandinavia )how many foreigners are there in the Swedish arm forces?How many immigrants do have office jobs,immigrants do the odd(dirty) jobs even those with passports.each nation has her own selfish interest(political,economical ,social etc) when dealing with Immigration which to an extend is necessary to protect your Origins and culture.Our gov't position might be looked as bad from the human point of view but politically correct for the sake of stability.I remember back at home when a Nigerian is dating a Cameroonian lady some of our guys go crazy,saying she's money minded and u start hating him,or paysans being locked up by Nigerians ,will that mentality change if he becomes a citizen? i don't think so,for whenever there will be any dispute we'll always make him(them) understand where they came from.Awalians have both positive and negative sides when it comes to political,economical and social aspects which makes anyone dealing with them to be very cautious,but one thing I know is that they know their rights.
we should learn from others,the Ivorian crisis and 9/11 has had a negative impact on immigration laws,which we most not neglect.
I hear about the 11th province back at home,can someone tell me those who make up this province and where the province is located?
Personally,I can't really say where i belong,who ever is in charge will know where the interest of the nation lies.
Long LIve Cameroon

[tekuju]

Cameroon population:
Anglophones 5 million
Nigerians 5 million
francophones 10 million
Aliens from Chad, CAR, DRC etc... 1 million
Please do the Maths yourselves!!!
whichever composition or shape Cameroon takes tomorrow, Southern and East Cameroons will have to solve this tricky equation....

[tekuju]

Cameroon population:
Anglophones 5 million
Nigerians 5 million
francophones 10 million
Aliens from Chad, CAR, DRC etc... 1 million
Please do the Maths yourselves!!!
whichever composition or shape Cameroon takes tomorrow, Southern and East Cameroons will have to solve this tricky equation....

[l'hommeMystique]

We seem to forget that the intension of these western countries with Nationality by birth right had nothing to do with fairness. That was an instrument that they used to take land from aboriginals. Just look at the New Zealand, Australia and USA. Now it is back-firing on some of them like the US where the Mexicans are exploiting the law to the fullest, just take your pregnant woman across the border and the baby is a US citizen.
I like my Nigerian brothers but if such a law was not in place you guys will be the same people complaining, Lagos by itself has more people than the whole of Cameroon. What Cameroon is doing is far better than what Nigeria did to the millions of Africans mostly Ghanians. A Nigerian is a Nigerian is a Nigerian, what did they do when Cameroon did not have all these so called unfair laws? they made the money, living in slumps like Ibo quarters-Kumba but built mansions in their home country. Long Live the Republic of Cameroon.

[Ma Mary]

Under la republique, the harrassment and discrimination against people of Nigerian origin has always been there. Even in the 1960s, Ahidjo conducted selective calle calle against the Igbos. The problem is that this aggression has become worse over time, with selective taxation. You la republiqans are equally aliens in the Southern Cameroons.

[Fritzane Kiki HK]

Ma Mary,
That is true.The discrimination in LRC is not only against the Anglophones but to the Biafrans and Igbos alike who are believed to be Anglophones in disguise.The Francopohnes know thst if there is a battle today the Igbos will be part of our military since they know we are part of Nigeria.The Bakassi issue was not really a big issue but it sparked a wild fire from the French sense of view since they realised that the sessession of the Peninsular from Cameroon will be the begiining of the sessession of the Southern Cameroons as a whole.

Nigerians have no rights as their Anglophones counterparts thats why giving them nationalites will only increase the Anglophones police force.It never doubts me why we are addressed as 'Les Biafras' in Francopohne regions immediately you are evesdrop speaking English.It is a landmark issue of discrimination in our own country.Reasons why many inner voices see no peace in the future with this unsuccessful marraige with LRC.

Fritzane Kiki
Hong Kong

[mk the southerner]

Ma Mary and Fritzane,

we already know the truth, it is just only difficult for the frog's government to even refused some of us Anglophones nationality.But if we dont fight hard it will gradually come to that.
My question is we now know all this what do we do? and how do we let some people to understand that we do not hate the SDF but that the SDF can not help the situation now? that participating in the frog's elections will not help us now?Please brain storm and tell me.
Mk the Southerner

[Emmanuel]

Hi All,
This is ridiculous. I am aware of the monotony the good life can bring. That is since birth a typical American knows what good health care is all about. With just a little effort he\she can achieve whatever they can in life. An American can dial 911 and be rescued from the jaws of death without even describing his home or location. When he is so low the government gives him food stamps and even lodging. Even though some are left out of the system, a good majority knows how good America is to its citizens. So good that to some it becomes boring again. That is why some even leave and decide to settle in places like Cameroon and even Bangladesh and make a home there. I think the good life becomes boring sometimes in life. Otherwise someone must have a very twisted mindset to leave all these good things and settle in a country like Cameroon where any little disease can be fatal because of the dismal health care system. A country where a policeman extorts money from you and challenges you to take the matter even up to the president. How low can a country sink again? The truth here is that as terrible as the situation is in Cameroon a good majority of the international community still holds Cameroon in high esteem because they view this country only through the prism of football. Given the fact that the government does all it can to keep away from international scrutiny, this however has become somewhat beneficial to its citizens abroad. But I equally know that some Cameroonians abroad in their efforts to make ends meet do so on the fast lane. Cameroonians are not saints. But now what is so good in Cameroon that Nigerians want its nationality? This question is not begging for answers because the answer is already there. They have messed up their reputations so badly internationally that they can even seek nationality from hell. You see, if there is anything good the Cameroon government has done it has succeeded in keeping Nigerians in check within the Cameroon National borders. Cameroon is that one country where a Nigerian understands he is a foreigner and as crude as it sounds foreigners don't have it easy.The last thing a Nigerian would want from any Cameroonian in Cameroon is to be dragged to the Gendarmerie. Deep down in my heart I feel terrible admiring how bad theses guys could be handled by the Gendarmes or East Cameroon police. But the truth is that if you give a Nigerian an inch they will not only take a yard - they will take a mile or two. Someone wrote favouring the recent request of many Nigerians born and bred in Cameroon to be automatically given Cameroonian nationality. He said that he studied in Nigeria and is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association. In Nigeria he said no police ever stopped him any one time and demanded residence or identification papers from him. Yes that could be true, but how could they even know one person from another when they don't even have a national identification system? I might admitt that treatment of Nigerians in Cameroon by the authorities is not very cordial but I think that has actually kept them to toe the line. Does anyone here remember when West Cameroon was administered from Nigeria and therefore there were many of them all over West Cameroon? They dominated the economy, school systems etc. Ask any West Cameroonian forty and above today what he remembers how these Nigerians treated Cameroonians in Cameroon! Enter the market and make a mistake to touch any thing and try to price it. If you choose not to buy it you will live to regret having passed around that market stall. But all that is gone now.
Now they want Cameroon citizenship. They argue that when they return to Nigeria they are regarded as foreigners yet in Cameroon they are not accepted as Cameroonians. That is a blatant lie. You can take a Nigerian out of Nigeria but never Nigeria out of him. The Nigerians making that argument, which indigenous Cameroonian language do they know? These people are so tribalistic that even if they are born in space they will always know they are Nigerians. The Nigerian nationality and passport is unfortunately a liability to them now and they want a way out. They messed up their country themselves. I might not like the way the Cameroon government handles its business but I am 100% with them so far as Nigerians are concerned. Just imagine how bad the situation is in Cameroon. Nigeria could even be better off because of its enormous natural and human resources. Why would they want to be Cameroonians instead if not for ulterior motives? Up to this moment it is not so bad to be identified abroad as Cameroonian. I don't want Nigerians to accelerate our decline into notoreity.
Lastly they also mentioned the huge amount paid for residence permit in Cameroon and mentioned something like 120000 frs cfa. That is chicken feed. I even want it to be increased. To be fair with everybody their foreign ministry should tax Cameroonians living in Nigeria and this amount should be a proportion of the entire population of the country. That would be fair That is the amount should be calculated per head of the home population. Nigerians a special group of citizens must be given special considerations when considering giving them Cameroon citizenship. But they should also individually and collectively work hard to clean up their image internationally. Nationals in hosted in different countries try to maintain low profiles creating an inconspicuous presence. This inconspicuous presence by Cameroonians wherever they are should not be translated into timidity. It just helps to deflect any possible racism or bigotry exercised by nationals of most host nations. I know it is not a national policy for Nigerians to be the way they are. I don’t know how it came about that they are just different and not in very positive ways. It hurts other immigrants very badly. Again to be honest I can live with the fact that Cameroonian drug pusher has been beheaded in Saoudi Arabia or incarcerated for life in Thailand. But if this same person was someone from Nigeria carrying a Cameroonian passport I will not like it. . When people complain about how Nigerians behave they Nigerians proudly defend it by saying the rest of Africa is jealous. What can be so good in being a Nigerian? and Who would wants to be a Nigerian? Not me.
Fon

[Danny Boy]

An indefinite leave to remain(billet de sejuor!) does not accord you citizenship in any country you move to. If these Nigerians are really serious, they should naturalise. Naturalisation accords you citizenship, wherever you are. If this suggestion fails them, then they can take their case to the AU as Kumbaboy rightly suggested.
Their problem is that these people have always come across as economic migrants to/in Cameroon. It is for them to demonstrate that they want to foist their allegiance to the green, red and yellow; not the green,white,green! I wonder.

[vito]

What's the matter?They've been in Cameroun for more than forty years some of them;grant them the bloody nationality .We have it;what has it given us?In fact,allow them name the kumba and Tiko markets after renowned nigerians.
What temerity ;asking your benevolent hosts to change their laws to suit you.Nonsense.

[Ma Mary]

Danny Boy, people naturalize when there is a naturalization PROCESS. There is no process accorded to people of Nigerian ethnic origins. You do not put your foot into the puddle out of faith alone. There must be a stone or a rock on which you can put your foot before you make a move from the spot on which you are standing. People who have lived in a place for three or four generations are not given a chance to plant roots. It is wrong, it is just plain wrong imposed by occupying aliens from la republique du
Cameroon. I burn the damn green red yellow rag. I spit on it and worse.

[Fritzane Kiki HK]

I guess Cameroon should help rehabilitate these long staying and interested businessmen and women and offer them naturalisation.It has been too long since they migrated to Cameroon and they have contributed to the economy alot so what merits have they aquired from the Cameroonian government than repartriation and continuous 'calle-calle' in various towns and villages.There is no wonder that these lot of Nigerians have a fighting spirit and only their presence have motivsted most Cameroonians to go in for business ventures.

I still repeat that only the Francophone junta will be afraid to legalise these Nigerians since they don't even know the difference between Southern Cameroonians and Nigerians in the Francophone regions.They call us all 'les Biafras' so we have little or no powers to insist on their legalisation herein.

Fritzane Kiki
Hong Kong

[Akoson]

I have been an eye-witness on countless number of ocassions where Nigerians living in Cameroon receive ocassional dose of all forms of military and economic brutality. And I don't think it has ever been a hidden secret that the wanton abuse of Nigerians in Cameroon (constant human right abuses, opressions and harrassments, economic frustration due to exobitant taxes etc) have political undertones. Why does the government with old-fashioned French inspired colonial laws (Ordinance No. 2 of 1959 and Ordinance No. 68 0f 1968) not press on other nationals like 'les Chadiens', 'les Ivoriennes', 'les Maliens' (moving about as shoe menders all over), 'les Gabonese' etc etc for resident permits? In fact more than 90 percent (statistics debatable) of other African nationals living in Cameroon do not have passports...more than 75 percent (again statistics debatable) of Nigerians have resident permits. The French remote-controled Beti Oligarchy in La Republique worry and fear that since the Southern Cameroons and Nigeria have a way compartible, similar culture and language than Southern Cameroons and La Republique, fear economic domination and an exponential increase in the population of the 'biafras' (the Southern Cameroonians and Nigerians). Realise that the population of the Southern Cameroons now stand somewhere around 6.5 million. The President of the Nigerian Union in Cameroon, Chief Andrew Eyeanwan Essien in an interview granted the Post newspaper recently said there are about four to five million Nigerians in Cameroon. This number is an official record. Many more Nigerians crossed the border into and are living in Cameroon illegally. Practically, the population of 'Biafras' in La Republique is nothing short of say eleven million. France is certainly taking enough precaution towards fighting this 'Biafra' population domination.

What is it that the Cameroonian nationality offers that we should be drumming our chests for? The Nigerian economy and political maturity is arguably preferrable than those in Cameroon. A typical businessman can go extra miles to keep his source of living burning. Taking another nationality can hardly be an opstacle. Mr. Essien acknowledges the fact that Nigerians' thirst for Cameroonian nationality is for nothing more than escaping unscrupolous tax burdens.

"Nigerians are really an ambitious lot. Most of them come here to do business. But they face a lot of obstacles in Cameroon: the problem of residence permit being paramount and obtaining bank loans for business, too, is not easy for us, here,"

[Akoson]

I have been an eye-witness on countless number of ocassions where Nigerians living in Cameroon receive ocassional dose of all forms of military and economic brutality. And I don't think it has ever been a hidden secret that the wanton abuse of Nigerians in Cameroon (constant human right abuses, opressions and harrassments, economic frustration due to exobitant taxes etc) have political undertones.

Why does the government with old-fashioned French inspired colonial laws (Ordinance No. 2 of 1959 and Ordinance No. 68 0f 1968) not press on other nationals like 'les Chadiens', 'les Ivoriennes', 'les Maliens' (moving about as shoe menders all over), 'les Gabonese' etc etc for resident permits? In fact more than 90 percent (statistics debatable) of other African nationals living in Cameroon do not have passports...more than 75 percent (again statistics debatable) of Nigerians have resident permits.

The French remote-controled Beti Oligarchy in La Republique worry and fear that since the Southern Cameroons and Nigeria have a way compartible, similar culture and language than Southern Cameroons and La Republique, fear economic domination and an exponential increase in the population of the 'biafras' (the Southern Cameroonians and Nigerians).

Realise that the population of the Southern Cameroons now stand somewhere around 6.5 million. The President of the Nigerian Union in Cameroon, Chief Andrew Eyeanwan Essien in an interview granted the Post newspaper recently said there are about four to five million Nigerians in Cameroon. This number is an official record. Many more Nigerians crossed the border into and are living in Cameroon illegally. Practically, the population of 'Biafras' in La Republique is nothing short of say eleven million. France is certainly taking enough precaution towards fighting this 'Biafra' population domination.

What is it that the Cameroonian nationality offers that we should be drumming our chests for? The Nigerian economy and political maturity is arguably preferrable than those in Cameroon. A typical businessman can go extra miles to keep his source of living burning. Taking another nationality can hardly be an opstacle. Mr. Essien acknowledges the fact that Nigerians' thirst for Cameroonian nationality is for nothing more than escaping unscrupolous tax burdens.

"Nigerians are really an ambitious lot. Most of them come here to do business. But they face a lot of obstacles in Cameroon: the problem of residence permit being paramount and obtaining bank loans for business, too, is not easy for us, here,"

The Son.

[Akoson]

Sorry for posting twice. Felt it would be readily readable when paragraphed.

[Cam]

Hi all, reading you all makes me more, more and more confuse. I am a 27yrs cameroonian lady. my parents are Bassa, i speak Bassa, beti, English and French. I am consider to have a so called "English"culture because i attended english school and most of my friends have similar profile. In my family a so called "French speaking". I am the only one that attended in English school. At the 27yrs, i am leaving in EU, having to face discrination from the West, and marrying a nigerian guy in 2 months. question to all is as follow; what future do i have? which side am i? am i french, english, African, Bassa, Beti, or? what happens to people like us that don't have any particular profile(just from the South)? I am more Sourthern by culture than Bassa, or French. what really happens to US being in the middle between being English/French?i am unable to see my friends or the culture i know best taken from me because of my Parents being Bassa by birth, French by Colonisation. i really don't get it. one doesn't pick their place of birth only God, nobody picks their husband or wife it's from God and children are from God. so please my brothers and sisters tell me which side am I.