The sum of over FCFA 105 million have been collected in the North West region as part of contributions in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North.

This was disclosed during an evaluation meeting chaired by the Governor of the North West region Adolf Lele l’Afrique and attended by other actors involved in the collection of the funds. The meeting amongst other things was aimed to examine and tally up the different amounts collected from the different parts of the region.

The contribution started on March 22, 2015 at a ceremony at the Bamenda Congress Hall chaired by the Prime Minister, Philemon Yang where over FCFA 80 million was raised essentially by politicians of the ruling CPDM party, business barons and elite of the Northwest Region.

Since that day an additional FCFA 3 million was contributed and to this was added over FCFA 21 million collected from the six divisions of the NW region excluding Ngokentunjia whose contribution is still pending.

The disclosure brings to rest fears expressed by some individuals that the FCFA 80 million raised in the presence of PM Philemon Yang was missing.

The allegations were based on a press release issued on April 6 by the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, detailing amounts contributed from administrative units of Cameroon and the FCFA 80 million from the Northwest Region did not feature.

The release revealed that FCFA 39,027,255 came in from the West Region (that is FCFA 29,027,255 in cash and FCFA 10 million in traveller’s cheques; FCFA 1,472,500 from the Northwest and FCFA 44,107,900 from the Southwest.

It is worth noting that contributions made at the administrative units would be deposited at Subdivisional Treasuries, Divisional Treasuries and Regional General Treasuries.

The collected funds will then be centralised at the Paymaster General of the Yaounde Treasury. Withdrawals from the account can only be done by the Minister of Defence upon authorization of the president.