Economic Backlash on the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) at the End of British Rule in Southern Cameroons, 1961-1968
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The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) was created in 1946 and went operational in 1947 through the enactment of two important ordinances by the government of Nigeria. As an agro-industrial company, the principal objective at inception was the management of the ex-German plantations in Cameroon for the welfare of the workers in particular, and the inhabitants of Southern Cameroons in general. Curiously, the creation of the CDC coincided with a rising spirit of nationalism in the territory, culminating in the granting of independence by reunification with the Republic of Cameroon in October 1961. Considering that the end of British rule was accompanied by reunification, and not integration with Nigeria, the objective of this paper is to highlight the post reunification implications on the CDC. Even though it drastically reduced Nigerian domination of the plantations and offered the corporation greater access to seaport facilities in Douala, the article posits that the CDC suffered enormous setbacks at the end of the British trusteeship in the territory. Using qualitative historical designs, the finding of the study admit that the end of British rule provoked the suspension of Commonwealth funding, cancellation of banana trade preferences, tariff imbroglio, cross-territory security concerns, among the other constraints. However, the article concludes that the federal government equally embarked on a number of remedial measures which went a long way in mitigating the post-independence challenges faced by the CDC.
KEY WORDS: Economic backlash, Cameroon Development Corporation, British rule and Southern Cameroons.
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Primary Sources
CDC Archives Bota, Limbe
Annual Report of the CDC, 1947
Annual Report of the CDC, 1948
Annual Report of the CDC, 1955
Annual Report of the CDC, 1958
Annual Report of the CDC, 1959
Annual Report of the CDC, 1960
Annual Report of the CDC, 1962
Annual Report of the CDC, 1965
Annual Report of the CDC, 1968
Annual Report of the CDC, 1990
File NO, 1946 An Ordinance to Provide for the Establishment of a Corporation Known as the Cameroon Development Corporation
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Arrey M. E. “The Economic Integration of the Cameroons and Impact on the Economy of West Cameroon: A Case Study of Victoria Division 1961-1972.”Post-Graduate Diploma (Maitrise) Dissertation, University of Yaounde, 1994.
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Anderson, Kjell. Report on the Economic Aspects of Reunification. Presidency Republic of Cameroon. Yaounde: Mimeographed. February, 1961.
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