Development, it is said, goes with industrialization. The Head of State, President Paul Biya did not mince his words in his New Year address to the nation last December 31.

“There can be no great country without industry. Even agriculture, which I love to say is the principal source of our wealth, is also expected to go industrial”. In effect, industrialisation which carelessly defined can be referred to as a process of change in the technology used to produce goods and service is a veritable economic trigger. According to Wilbert Emoore and G. R. Madan, it is a much broader process of economic development which has in view the integrated development of all other sectors such as agriculture, power, transport and other services.

By hammering on the need to boost industrialisation, the President was certainly aware of the role it can play in making the country attain its lofty goal of emergence come 2035. Industrialisation entails; increase in per capita income, growth in international trade, high level of investment, generation of employment and meeting the requirements of the people. Cameroon is presently paying the price of under-industrialisation epitomised by the massive importation of goods and services. “Our trade balance is characterized by a significant import surplus against exports which largely depend on the sale of three or four commodities whose prices are unstable. Our imports, for their part, mostly concern manufactured products, notably capital goods for our major projects.”

As a result of low industrialisation, Cameroon is obliged to consume what is does not produce and produce what it does not consume. This situation is rather disturbing considering the devastation it is causing to the country’s economy. The Head of State in his message could not understand why we have to be in this situation. “There is no plausible reason for our slowness in developing industries to process our agricultural commodities.”  As a country that boasts of enormous potentials in agriculture, it is but disturbing to see a good percentage of its products ferried out of the country for processing. 

That notwithstanding, government action in favour of food processing activities in Cameroon , piloted by the Ministry of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicraft was a few years ago translated into the launching of a project in Yaounde announcing it will provide 3,600 job opportunities and increase the revenue of about 6,700 producers in rural areas. The results of this project remain latent.

The President in that message frowned at the near absence of interest on the part of local producers in getting into the mainstream of industrial processing. He however sees a glimmer of hope following the signing of agreements between government and some local and foreign companies. “There seems to be progress in this direction among local and foreign entrepreneurs thanks largely to awareness-raising campaigns by investment promotion bodies. This is proven by the recent signing of 13 agreements in the Ministry of Industry, worth FCFA 180 billion.”

It is perhaps important to note that the whole issue is not in the signing but in ensuring that what has been signed gets into practical implementation. Earlier initiatives in almost similar directions have never produced palpable results. Producers in the rubber sector met and designed a programme of local processing but everything ended on the rocks.

 The issue from every indication is the lack of interest from the private sector. In effect, the economy of a nation depends so much on the private sector. Cameroonians are still to come to terms with the failure of projects initiated by the private sector to takeoff even when they have had the kudos from government. Maybe, members of the private sector or government themselves have to be bold enough to tell Cameroonians what has really been holding back such projects.