Atanga Nji Warns NW Men Against Femicide as Presidential Couple Extends Financial, Food Aid to 650 Women-Headed Families in Bamenda

Atanga Nji Warns NW Men Against Femicide as Presidential Couple Extends Financial, Food Aid to 650 Women-Headed Families in Bamenda

Colbert Gwain | The Muteff Factor 

In Muteff village perched on the Ijim hills near Abuh in Fundong Subdivision of the Boyo Division of Cameroon's North West Region, when a woman returned from the farm with a heavy load on her head, she was never merely carrying food home. She was carrying the evening meal, the welfare of children and, in a very real sense, the wellbeing of the entire compound.

The old village wisdom understood something modern societies sometimes forget: strengthen a woman and you strengthen the family around her. Hurt her, and the damage rarely stops with her.

That wisdom found contemporary expression in Bamenda on Monday, October 5, 2026, when Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji brought a message of gratitude, assistance and caution to women of the North West.

At the Mezam Senior Divisional Officer's Esplanade, the Minister supervised the distribution of financial and food assistance from President Paul Biya and First Lady Chantal Biya to 650 women-headed families. If one considers that an average household in the North West is made up for five persons, then the gifts will touch the lives of 3500 individuals.

Atanga Nji made it clear that the choice of women was deliberate.

According to the Minister, President Biya and his wife specifically wanted women to benefit because of the traditional role they play in transforming whatever they receive into something useful for the entire household.

He explained that when women receive gifts, they are more likely to take them home, prepare food and ensure the family benefits. Men, he argued, could instead squander such gifts on drinks or share them with other romantic partners, leaving their immediate families with little impact to show.

The comparison was provocative, but his underlying message was clear: assistance directed at women can have a multiplier effect within the household.

The gesture was also presented as a token of appreciation for the women of the North West as the Minister said President Biya had sent him to thank them for their extraordinary support during the October 12, 2025 presidential election, when the President secured his highest regional vote outside the South Region.

He equally acknowledged the massive mobilization and outpouring of welcome accorded Pope Leo XIV during his historic Bamenda visit in April 2026.

For the Minister, these moments demonstrated the ability of North West women to mobilize their communities when it matters most. But his message went beyond gratitude.

Atanga Nji praised women for their contribution to the gradual return of normalcy in the North West and urged them to do even more.

His appeal was particularly directed at their influence as mothers, wives and community members: persuade the fighters still remaining in the bushes to abandon violence, return home and embrace normal life.

It was a significant appeal because women have often been at the centre of household survival throughout the conflict. Many have lost husbands, raised children alone, endured displacement and poverty, and become the principal providers for families disrupted by years of violence.

Now, Atanga Nji was asking them to deploy that same influence in the search for peace.

The Minister, however, also had a stern message for men: violence against women, particularly femicide, must not be tolerated.

For a region already scarred by years of violence, the warning carried particular weight. The restoration of normalcy cannot simply mean fewer attacks, fewer clashes or safer roads. It must also mean safer homes. This is where the Muteff lesson returns.

In the village, a woman's welfare was never regarded as exclusively her private affair. She was someone's daughter, mother, sister, wife and custodian of the household. Her safety therefore belonged to the entire community.

The 650 families assisted in Bamenda may remember October 5 for the food and financial support that reached their homes. But the larger message may endure longer: women are not merely beneficiaries of peace. They are among its architects.

If Atanga Nji's appeal is embraced, the women who have helped keep families alive through years of crisis may also help persuade those still in the bushes that there is life beyond the gun, beyond fear and beyond the conflict. And perhaps that is the lesson Muteff would recognize immediately: when women carry peace home, the whole household has a chance to eat from it.