CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 THE BACKGROUND STUDY

More than three years of conflict in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest (NWSW) regions have resulted in significant socioeconomic disruption. According to Evan Tarva social economics is a branch of economics and a social science that focuses on the relationship between social behavior and economics. Social economics consist of two broad perspectives that, though opposite in their approach, can be thought of as complementary. The first pioneered by Nobelist Gary Becker, applies the basic theoretical and applied tools of neoclassical micro economics to areas of human behavior not traditionally considered as part of economics proper, such as a crime and punishment, drug abuse, marriage and family decisions. The second applies the idea of other social sciences, such as sociology, psychology, and identity group studies to subjects of an economic nature like consumer behavior or labor markets. These practitioners of social economics use history, current events, politics and other social science to predict social trends that potentially impact the society. This strand of social economics is the primary focus of this article. At times the theories of social economics diverge from conventional economic theories. The theories of social economics often consider factors that are outside the focus of mainstream economics, including the effect of the environment and ecology on consumption and wealth.

Transportation is the most important activity in every society and without transport people in that community cannot survive because transportation helps in the movement of people food stuff and services from one place to another, it could also be defined as the movement of people and freight from one place to another which could be within a country and between countries. Socio-economic crisis are the problems we face in our daily society and most people who are being affected by this are those in the underdeveloped areas, Regardless of the origin, financial and socio-economic crises feature combinations of adverse conditions:  slump in investments, loss of income, unemployment, shrinkage of state provisions, enforced migration, and an incapacity to satisfy basic needs.

The development of transportation systems takes place in a socio-economic context. While development policies and strategies focus on physical capital, recent years have seen a better balance by including human capital issues. Irrespective of the relative importance of physical versus human capital, development cannot occur without both interacting as infrastructures cannot remain effective without proper operations and maintenance. At the same time, economic activities cannot take place without an infrastructure base. The highly transactional and service-oriented functions of many transport activities underline the complex relationship between its physical and human capital needs. For instance, effective logistics rely on infrastructures and managerial expertise.

Because of its intensive use of infrastructures, the transport sector is an important component of the economy and a common tool used for development. This is even more so in a global economy where economic opportunities have been increasingly related to the mobility of people and freight, including information and communication /technologies. A relation between the quantity and quality of transport infrastructure and the level of economic development is apparent. High-density transport infrastructure and highly connected networks are commonly associated with high levels of development. When transport systems are efficient, they provide economic and social opportunities and benefits that result in positive multiplier effects such as better accessibility to markets, employment, and additional investments. When transport systems are deficient in terms of capacity or reliability, they can have an economic cost such as reduced or missed opportunities and lower quality of life.

            At the aggregate level, efficient transportation reduces costs in many economic sectors, while inefficient transportation increases these costs. Besides, the impacts of transportation are not always intended and can have unforeseen or unintended consequences. For instance, congestion is often an unintended consequence in providing free or low-cost transport infrastructure to the users. However, congestion is also an indication of a growing economy where capacity and infrastructure have difficulties keeping up with the rising mobility demands. Transport carries an important social and environmental load, which cannot be neglected.

The added value and employment effects of transport services usually extend beyond those generated by that activity; indirect effects are salient. For instance, transportation companies purchase a part of their inputs (fuel, supplies, maintenance) from local suppliers. The production of these inputs generates additional value-added and employment in the local economy. In turn, the suppliers purchase goods and services from other local firms. There are further rounds of local re-spending, which generate additional value-added and employment. Similarly, households that receive income from employment in transport activities spend some of their income on local goods and services. These purchases result in additional local jobs and added value. Some of the household income from these additional jobs is spent on local goods and services, thereby creating further jobs and income for local households. As a result of these successive rounds of re-spending in the framework of local purchases, the overall impact on the economy exceeds the initial round of output, income, and employment generated by passenger and freight transport activities. Thus, from a general standpoint, the economic impacts of transportation can be direct, indirect, and induced:

Direct impacts. The outcome of improved capacity and efficiency where transport provides employment, added value, larger markets, as well as time and costs improvements. The overall demand of an economy is increasing.

Indirect impacts. The outcome of improved accessibility and economies of scale. Indirect value-added and jobs are the result of local purchases by companies directly dependent upon transport activity. Transport activities are responsible for a wide range of indirect value-added and employment effects, through the linkages of transport with other economic sectors (e.g. office supply firms, equipment and parts suppliers, maintenance and repair services, insurance companies, consulting, and other business services).

Induced impacts. The outcome of the economic multiplier effects where the price of commodities, goods, or services drops and their variety increases. For instance, the steel industry requires the cost-efficient import of iron ore and coal for the blast furnaces and export activities for finished products such as steel booms and coils. Manufacturers, retail outlets, and distribution centers handling imported containerized cargo rely on efficient transport and seaport operations.

Transportation links together the factors of production in a complex web of relationships between producers and consumers. The outcome is commonly a more efficient division of production by the exploitation of comparative geographical advantages, as well as the means to develop economies of scale and scope. The productivity of space, capital, and labor is thus enhanced with the efficiency of distribution and personal mobility. Economic growth is increasingly linked with transport developments, namely infrastructures, but also with managerial expertise, which is crucial for logistics. Thus, although transportation is an infrastructure intensive activity, hard assets must be supported by an array of soft assets, namely labor, management, and information systems. Decisions must be made about how to use and operate transportation systems to optimize benefits and minimize costs and inconvenience.

1.2 Delimitation

1.2.1 Spatial delimitation

            This search was carried out in Cameroon, north west region in Mezam division precisely Bamenda city,

1.2.2 Time delimitation

            the time delimitation for this search were within the month of April and July. My chapter 1-3 where written within the months of April and May, and my questionnaires were issued and retrieved in late June and finally my data analyses where done in early July.

1.2.3 Thematic delimitation

            With the thematic delimitation this study was focused on socio economic crisis and road transport development in the city of Bamenda. This study didn’t have anything to do with other transport networks like air, rail, pipeline and sea transport.

1.3 Statement of the problem

           The impacts of socio-economic crisis on transportation in Bamenda has to do with all the socio-economic activities we carry out daily and how it tends to affect transportation either negativity or positively. Though there are positive impacts the negative impacts tend to slow down and also hinder transportation activities, such as transportation projects like construction of roads, bridges and drainages. This is a big problem in the economy of Bamenda because the construction of this roads and bridges are being hindered by socioeconomic crisis in the city of Bamenda.

Moreover, socioeconomic crisis had also affected transportation fair in the city of Bamenda thereby hindering a lot of activities and people have changed their means of transport to more convenient and cheaper ways of transport. The socioeconomic crisis in the city of Bamenda have led to increase in fuel of vehicles that is gasoline, petrol and kerosene and because of this increase in prices drivers turn to shift the burden on their costumers making it a hindrance for people to carry out their activities freely.

Socio economic crisis has also deeply affected the transporters and their customer’s social safety which is another hindrance to their free movement, some places are no longer visited or motorable roads still in those areas because of insecurities in those areas making movement to those areas even more difficult. With all this happening the researcher should undertake a study to evaluate whether the negative impacts of socio-economic activities in the economy can be regulated to promote transportation in the city of Bamenda. It is based on the analyses above that this study sets out to answer the following questions:

1.4. Research question(s)

1.4.1. Main research question

What is the impact of socio-economic crisis on road transport development in the city of Bamenda from 2019-2022?

1.4.2. Specific questions

1. To what extend has the socio-economic crisis affected road transport infrastructure in the city of Bamenda?
2. What is the impact of socio-economic crisis on road transportation costs in the city of Bamenda?
3. How has the socio-economic crisis affected security of the transporters and clients in the city of Bamenda?

1.5. Research objective

1.5.1. Main objective

To assess the impact of socio-economic crisis on road Transport development in the city of Bamenda from 2019-2022.

1.5.2. Specific objectives

1. To examine the extent to which socio economic crisis has affected road transport infrastructure in the city of Bamenda
2. To analyze the impact of socio economic crisis on transport costs in the city of Bamenda.
3. To determine the Impact of socioeconomic crisis on the security of the transporters and passengers in the city of Bamenda.