The Cameroonian electricity company Enéo is claiming 1,7 billion CFA francs from the University of Douala and threatens, if it is not paid, to cut off the electricity.
In Cameroon, when a public university does not pay its electricity bills, it risks being thrown into the dark. The fault of a dispute between the University of Douala and Enéo Cameroon. The latter, which produces, distributes and sells electricity, estimates at 1,7 billion CFA francs – or more than 2,5 million euros – the invoice, dated August 22, owed by the university. Enéo has decided to put the public establishment on notice, "before suspending the supply of electrical energy".
It is therefore all the schools of the University of Douala that are concerned, including the Higher School of Economics and Commercial Sciences (Essec), the Normal School of Technical Education (Enset) or the Faculty of medicine.
The Cameroonian State is in a special situation vis-à-vis Enéo. Because if he is a shareholder of the semi-public company, he only holds 44% of the shares of the company, the British investment fund Actis being the majority. Normal, therefore, that Enéo asks public companies to pay the bill.
Mismanagement of tuition fees?
Enéo had seen its energy supply rationed by independent energy and fuel producers at the end of last year, due to numerous bills not paid by the State. The government had then promised, ahead of the African Cup of Nations (CAN), to tackle "the issue of dealing with the financial situation of the electricity sector", which, according to him, took "all its magnitude and requires a solution”. The State had then offered to reimburse, in two months, more than 180 billion CFA francs to Enéo which, for its part, had to pay its suppliers like Tradex.
Last year, eight months before obtaining guarantees from the Cameroonian government, Enéo deplored the situation, saying that it “very seriously handicapped its operations and its development capacities”.
Nearly a year after having found a compromise with the government, the question of unpaid debts from the State is therefore resurfacing, through the University of Douala. For students, the question that arises is rather that of the management of tuition fees. In any case, Enéo threatens "to hamper the activities (of the students) in its entirety".