Cameroon mobilizes 800 billion CFA francs to accelerate Far North reconstruction

Cameroon’s government says the main challenge for its Far North reconstruction program is no longer mobilizing money, but turning it into visible work on the ground.

At a steering committee meeting in Yaoundé on Aug. 31, officials reviewed the 2025 results and set priorities for the next phase of the Special Program for the Reconstruction and Development of the Far North. The committee said funding had reached 800 billion CFA francs, an increase of 200 billion CFA francs from the previous session.

The 2025 assessment listed several projects already launched or under way. They include a drinking-water facility at the National Advanced School of Engineering of Maroua’s Sekandé campus, five integrated health centers with staff housing, solar-powered boreholes and fencing, and seven primary schools supplied with complete equipment. The program also distributed 10,000 school desks and office furnishings, while providing inputs and small equipment to producer cooperatives and organizations in the region’s six departments.

Other projects include the completion of a building for the governor’s services and support for a 236 billion CFA franc program to improve connectivity, resilience and inclusion along the Mora-Dabanga-Kousseri corridor. A territorial development program valued at 157 billion CFA francs is also included, along with a human-capital development program financed with 89.2 billion CFA francs from the African Development Bank for 2025 and 2026.

For 2026, the committee said it would seek to remove obstacles and speed up work on irrigation, agricultural value chains and social and economic infrastructure. It approved a budget of 26.61 billion CFA francs with support from the...