Fri Bime's latest book suggests ways of changing the continent's destiny through people-oriented development.

As the country advances into the core of vast infrastructural development, the book “Two Cents for Africa”, published in November 2012 and launched in Douala last February 28, exposes the suggestive undertones of the Cameroonian female writer, Beatrice Fri Bime, of the challenges to development and proposes solutions.

At a ceremony to launch the book at the Sawa Hotel attended by a cross-section of political, religious and civil society authorities and moderated Ngoningeh Swaibou Chari of Cameroon Radio Television, Dr. David Toh Kusi of the University of Yaounde I said the book captures the author’s fervent call for Africans to wake up from slumber and fight for their God-given values and rescue the continent from economic stagnation….

The first chapter captures Africa at the bottom billion, while chapter 2 advances propositions and focuses on “Prods to growth”.  Chapter 3 is an appeal for Africans to rather engage in “Production not consumption”. In chapter 4, talks about talents, ethics and bad governance and sets out “Research data and statistics” in chapter 5 to uncover the deplorable state in which Africa finds itself today. We perceive the role of women in development in chapter six and the lamentation for Africa’s situation in the globalised world in chapter 7. The corpus of chapter 8 is the historical impact of colonialism and migration on Africa and chapter 9 ends with lessons learned and shared from communication and technological advancements.

The significance of the title “Two Cents for Africa”, according to the author, suggests Africa being given the least out of the abundance it offers.

The work also highlights education as one of the fundamental stimulants to development. It suggests an overhaul of our educational systems to meet the needs of our communities. In preparing our educational policies, we should find out what our cash crops and natural resources are. It should establish specialised high schools/institutions geared towards the cultivation, harvesting, preservation, transformation and marketing of the finished products.

For this situation to be redeemed, the author thinks that the government needs to put in place incentives for the private sector to thrive by implementing tax breaks, capacity building for small and medium-size enterprises, facilitate easy access to credit, land, infrastructure, water and energy, and a sound judiciary to protect peoples’ property so that foreign investors/Africans in the Diaspora can come in without fear of being exploited or cheated. With this Africa may come out of its consumer mode into one of wealth creation in favour of development.