Nigeria-Cameroon Socio-Cultural Relations: A Borderland Perspective

Abstract

This paper examines Nigeria–Cameroon socio-cultural relations across three historical epochs: the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial eras, using a borderland perspective. It highlights how communities straddling the frontier have maintained ethnic, cultural, religious, and economic linkages despite shifting political orders. The paper argues that while colonialism imposed artificial boundaries that disrupted older networks, borderland communities have consistently adapted, negotiating their identities, livelihoods, and belonging across state borders. The Nigeria–Cameroon border is more than a geopolitical demarcation; it is a lived space where socio-cultural interactions unfold daily. What has emerged is that the Nigeria–Cameroon borderland inhabitants have strong ties among themselves, anchored by their shared resources, exchanges, ethnic and cultural affiliations, despite the various skirmishes experienced at the state-centric level between Nigeria and Cameroon. The continuous relations and peaceful coexistence among the border people have helped build feelings of trust and goodwill, making irreconcilable conflict unthinkable among them. Therefore, the border communities have served as mediating structures for the attainment of peace between the two states. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the border communities serve as essential elements for fostering diplomatic ties between Nigeria and Cameroon.