Black men, English suits and a corner office: Education and the making of a West-Cameron Civil Service 1954-1972

Abstract

Within the perspective of postcolonial state building in Africa, the study hinges on the colonial education, manpower and development nexus to examine the state of preparedness of the Trust Territory of the British Southern Cameroons with regards to an indigenous political and economic leadership as the British and Nigerian colonial authorities were leaving the territory. It discusses the quantity and quality of manpower produced by the British colonial education system that was on hand to take over the mantle of leadership as the territory gained independence. The study asserts that, the forming West Cameroon state was ill-disposed to its own endeavours due to lacks in a sufficiently qualified personnel and could thus not implement its own policies; the roots being a poorly developed colonial educational system. This had significant effects on the socio-economic development of the federal state of West Cameroon. The paper has relied on archival data and some critical secondary literature to present the argument.