Bakassi Women in Cross-Border Trade with Nigeria (1963 to 2016): Motivations and Constraints

Abstract

Bakassi, a peninsula rich in petroleum and natural gas, is Cameroon’s, after a lingering border dispute over it with Nigeria which saw Cameroon emerging triumphant. As expected, a large extent of the peninsula’s historiography has been pretty conflict-based than otherwise. It is within this basis that the underlying article explores yet an existent but casually exploited field – the experience of cross-border trade in the peninsula. Likewise, Cameroon’s reluctant enthusiasm to make gender-equalized evaluations of trade inspired the spotlight of this research on the female gender. It is in this light that the write-up aims at delving into the reasons why the women of Bakassi (in the Cameroon side), ventured into cross-border trade with Nigeria between the years 1963 and 2016 as well as the different constraints witnessed in doing so. Relying on primary and secondary sources while consuming other disciplines where indispensable, the article depended on the thematic, chronological and descriptive models of analysis accordingly. From the objectives and methods adapted, the results of our findings proved that during the years under reflection, historical relationships, intermarriages, differences in natural resource base, differences in prices, devaluation of the Nigerian currency and the economic crisis of the 1980s all motivated Bakassi women to undertake the trade. As for the obstacles faced in the process, they varied from the economic standpoint to socio-cultural restrains. The economic hindrances included corruption, piracy, theft, fraud, price instability, transport and communication network problems and inadequate capital while the socio-cultural obstructions were mainly illiteracy, inadequate access to information and traditional prejudices.