The Southern-West Cameroon(s) Development Agency, 1956-1973: Historical Evidence of Hope and Despair in Economic Development

Abstract

For most parts of British rule in the Southern Cameroons and a decade into the existence of the West Cameroon state of the Cameroon Federation, many reflections were brought on board to enhance the level of economic development of the territory. This became the crux behind the creation of the Southern Cameroons Development Agency (S.C.D.A) which was transformed to the West Cameroon Development Agency (W.C.D.A) in 1961. This paper maintains that, the Development Agency from its inception in 1956 contained a lofty blueprint for the development of the territory, especially, in the agro-industrial and commercial domains. Nevertheless, the manner in which the Agency collapsed in the early seventies could be attributed to the merger in diverse proportion of unapprised state-centric practices and some irresponsible corporate cultures. This study has been built from primary and secondary sources and employed a qualitative research approach.