Yaounde: Governor Naseri Bea takes command ¹

The man who was until March 13 Senior Divisional Officer for the Department of Wouri has now taken the reins of the Center region. Paul Naseri Bea has replaced the late Joseph Wilson Otto as governor of the Center region headquartered in Yaounde, the nation’s capital.  The Central Region was born from the break-up of the former Central-South Province, following a presidential decree of 22 August 1983 and it covers an area of 69 000 km2.

Its population is estimated to a little more than 3 million inhabitants. Administratively, the region of the Center has ten departments and 70 districts. This is the highest number in the administrative division in Cameroon. Yaoundé, Mbalmayo, Monatélé, Bafia, Nanga-Eboko and Akonolinga are the main urban centers in the Region. Although the available statistics indicate that the majority of the urban population is located in the department of Mfoundi.

The Center is an agricultural-dominated region that draws most of its resources from farming. Like the other Regions of Cameroon, Naseri Paul Bea is now faces a number of problems such as the unavoidable problem of the urban disorder facing the different municipalities, and especially the city of Yaounde which has the delicate task of housing the main institutions of the country and diplomatic representations accredited in Cameroon.

Urban agglomerations in the Region are also facing rising levels of crime and other forms of delinquency, which the new Governor will certainly tackle. Naseri Paul Bea carries with him a long experience of territorial command which should probably allow him to draw the best from the game at the head of this region so special to the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai