Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, who rules by decrees, has laid down the amount and conditions of allowance payments to public institution’s researchers.
He decreed on Tuesday, October 29, that chief research officers be paid an allowance of 140,000 FCFA monthly. Senior researchers will take 130,000 FCFA, while the research officers take 110,000 FCFA.
The decree equally specifies that research assistants will be receiving 90,000 FCFA
Aside from these research allowances, there is a technical proficiency allowance monthly, too.
For instance, a chief research officer goes home with a monthly allowance package of 190,000 FCFA when combined.
That goes the same for senior research officers, research officers, and research assistants. They are entitled to 40,000, 40,000, and 30,000 for technical proficiency, respectively.
Will that Solve Recurrent Lecturers’ Strikes?
Earlier this October, lecturers at the University of Douala threatened to strike over accumulated research allowances. They had not been paid for months.
However, this was not only the case in Douala. University lecturers in Cameroon have often cried about non-payment of research allowances.
But with President Biya’s decrees laying down new modalities, it remains to be seen if the situation will change.