Execution of PIB projects: Nkambe Council, four others emerge best.

Nkambe Council was Tuesday singled out alongside four others, for meeting the targets in the execution of Public Investment Budget, PIB, projects in the 2024 fiscal year. 

The five councils were recognised and rewarded during the first edition of the Model Council Award, an initiative of MINEPAT, designed to celebrate achievements of councils in terms of project quality performance. The award ceremony held at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel Tuesday. 

The Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Alamine Ousmane Mey, presided the event. It was attended by the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze; the Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr Taiga; and other actors in the decentralistaion and local development sectors. 

Speaking during the event, Minister Ousmane Mey said the additional 50 million FCFA investment is to recognise the hard work put in by the five councils. 

The money, he said, will further help them to push through their grassroots development projects and improve the living conditions of those in their municipalities. 

The minister explained that the Model Council Award is a scheme reward outstanding councils and to encourage others to meet the expectations of their population in terms of projects execution.

Minister Ousmane Mey said the financial support is also a tangible way to recognise the progress made by the councils in the execution of resources transferred to them under the decentralisation process. 

Through the scheme, he said, the ministry is demonstrating that councils can achieve good practices in local governance, community engagement and council improvement. He said the move will also offer a structural framework to empower all councils to enhance and realise their full potential. 

Enter Hon Ngala Gerard

The Mayor of Nkambe Council, Musa Shey Nfor, was represented at the event by the Member of Parliament for Nkambe, Hon Barrister Ta Nformi Ngala Gerard.

The lawmaker, on behalf of the municipal authority, thanked the Head of State, Paul Biya, for all his efforts geared at fast-tracking the decentralisation process and improving the living conditions of compatriots. 

Hon Ngala Gerard also saluted the visionary move of the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT, for the scheme to encourage councils that are doing well in the local governance chain. 

The respected politician said the money handed to Nkambe Council will be used to execute income-generating projects and better serve youth of the municipality, especially Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, who are seeking refuge in the municipality as a result of the crisis in the two English-speaking Regions. 

“This will be to make sure that they [youths] have jobs and these are some of the ingredients that we have had in Nkambe so far,” he stated.

The MP said it is through such youth empowerment projects that the municipality has been able to have the peace that it enjoys, which is enabling the council to be able to execute projects that have contributed to it winning the prize.

Hon Ngala Gerard said the prize from MINEPAT will go a long way to encourage other councils to do exactly what Nkambe Council has been doing in executing PIB projects in the right way for the benefit of the population. 

Other beneficiary councils of the MINEPAT initiative, it should be said, included the Idenau Council in the South West Region, Ndelele Council in the East Region, Nyambaka Council in the Adamawa Region and Pette Council in the Far North Region. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3567 of Wednesday September 17, 2025