A significant digital gap has been identified in the North West Region of Cameroon, where barely 48.6 percent of local councils currently operate a functional website, and their social media presence remains largely timid.
To bridge this divide, local administrative institutions are being urged to immediately integrate Information and Communication Technologies – ICTs into their daily operations. This call to action was championed by Professor Ebot Ebot Enaw, Director General of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies – ANTIC, during a three-day capacity-building seminar themed “Local Development in the Era of Digital Transformation,” which brought together mayors and IT administrators from across the region’s seven divisions.
The training initiative aims to equip municipal IT administrators with 21st-century digital skills to fundamentally modernize how councils interact with the public. By establishing modernized digital portals, councils can bring essential public services directly to residents’ smartphones, saving citizens from traveling long distances to council chambers just to check the status of a document.
Beyond improving communication, this regional push toward comprehensive digitalization is designed to tackle critical structural challenges, specifically focusing on the modernization of civil status registries and the automation of local revenue collection to curb financial leakages.
ANTIC’s national track record demonstrates that this digital transition is highly achievable, with the agency already supporting 230 councils—representing 64 percent of all municipal councils nationwide—in deploying digital solutions. Notable milestones include securing the National Civil Status Registry platforms using ANTIC’s Public Key Infrastructure – PKI in pilot council areas like the Diamaré Division in the Far North Region and the Wouri Division in the Littoral Region. By scaling these proven security frameworks to the North West, the agency intends to build a robust and highly secure digital ecosystem for local governance.
To maximize the impact of the workshop and ensure long-term sustainability, ANTIC is organizing the seminar in close collaboration with key institutional stakeholders. These vital partners include the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development – MINDDEVEL, the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance – FEICOM, the National Civil Status Registration Office – BUNEC, and the Public Contracts Regulatory Agency – ARMP.
Through this joint effort, the initiative aims to drive inclusive local development, making decentralized governance across the North West more transparent, accessible, and efficient.
