All is set in the Nigerian capital, Abuja as President Biya and Wife Chantal Biya set out on a two-day State visit.

All eyes in the Nigerian capital, Abuja are turned towards the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport where President Paul Biya accompanied by his wife, Chantal Biya are expected to touch down for a two-day State visit to Nigeria. The visit which comes barely ten months after the Nigerian leader, Muhammadu Buhari visited Cameroon, is expected to further oil relations between the two brotherly and friendly nations.

All that it takes to welcome a Head of State of a nation has been put in place. As late as yesterday, Nigerian State protocol, security, press and population were busy making arrangements to give the Cameroonian first couple a befitting welcome. As it has always been the case, a meeting of the leaders of the two countries have often made history. This particular visit is expected to come out with far reaching decisions that will go a long way to cement relations between the two countries.

In effect, the ten months separating the working and friendly visit President Muhammadu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria paid to Cameroon have not erased the freshness of the memory the people of the two countries have on the significance and the impact the event has created on their relations. Driven by the common concerns over issues that cut across the geographical, political and economic boundaries, the visit of July, 2015 ushered in an added impetus in the conduct of real fight against insecurity and mutual determination towards achieving economic development. The Yaounde meeting between President Paul Biya and his guest equally revealed a shared awareness of the fact that security is a veritable springboard to the development of the two nations, the welfare of the population, the respect of human dignity and the fight against poverty.

Mutual development obligation

Cameroon and Nigeria appear to be the closest neighbours geographically by virtue of the fact that they share the longest boundary and so are quite aware of the need to keep the flame of economic cooperation continuously burning. President Paul Biya in his speech during the last visit, underscored inter alia the “new impetus in the economic relationship” between the two countries for “more solidarity and complementarily.” He particularly called for the promotion of maximum fluidity in trade and creation of more joint ventures between Cameroonian and Nigerian Business people. Nigeria, it should be recalled, constitutes a veritable market for Cameroon while Cameroon on her part possesses the necessary natural resources worth developing. These two potentials militate seriously in favour cooperation between the two countries. But this cooperation needs to be constantly oiled. This exactly is what the two leaders have been working to achieve even though the recent offshoot of insecurity exacerbated by the Islamic activists, Boko Haram, has served as a serious threat to this ambition.

The good thing, it should be underscored, is the determination of the two Presidents who have been working in conjunction with the Multinational Joint Task Force to completely put an end to the terrorist attacks. The two have in effect agreed to intensify the exchange of intelligence between their security services among others. Cameroon and Nigeria are aware of the fact that their challenges go beyond fighting insecurity, whether on land, air or sea. This explains the existence of the Joint Commission for Cooperation which covers all socio-economic and development sectors, namely, security, health, agriculture, education, trade, energy, infrastructure, environment, forests, water and consular affairs.

Other operational frameworks are expected to see the light of day as the two nations continue to work towards that. One of such pre-requisite set up capable of boosting ties between the two countries has to do with the movement of people and goods, for it is when movement is eased, that development follows. Business people are looking forward with a high degree of anxiousness the organisation of the Cameroon-Nigeria Business Forum to identify important areas of investments and businesses to hinge on.