Abstract: This study has as objective to situate the historical context in which the new paradigm of commercial motorbike transportation; an informal economic activity, emerged in the late 1990s through the early 2000s in Bangem town. It treats the genesis/implantation, challenges and implications of the sector in Bangem. The paper contends that, the very difficult impacts of the economic crisis of the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s that hit Cameroon at large and Bangem in particular amongst other factors brought untold hardship on the locals exhibited by poverty and mass unemployment of youths. It was the economic crisis and the ensued hardship that was the basis and catalyst for the pursuit of informal economic activities as niches for economic survival, growth and livelihood. Commercial motorbike transportation thus provided a new avenue for economic livelihood. Based on primary, secondary data and the authors’ observations, the study reveals that commercial motorbike transportation greatly ameliorated the lives and living standards of many youths who found a way of making ends meet in the sector. More to that, Motorbike transportation became the main means of transportation within the Bangem township and greatly helped to palliate the movement of persons from Bamgem municipality to the neighbouring villages due to the flexibility and adaptive nature of the bikes. Motorbike transportation also aided in the transportation of agricultural products from the suburbs and environs of Bangem Township that had been a major handicap for the rural farmers due to the poor state of the roads within the entire Kupe-Muanengube division. Commercial motorbike transportation was therefore a new paradigm of informal economic activity that had come to stay and to contribute to the socio-economic fabric of Bangem town.
Keywords: Economic Crisis, Informal Economy, Livelihood, Commercial Motorbike Transport, Unemployment.
Title: Commercial Motorbike Transportation in Bangem since the 1990s: Setting a New Paradigm
Author: Sammy Besong Arrey-Mbi, Christian Pagbe Musah
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
Vol. 12, Issue 3, July 2024 - September 2024
Page No: 209-221
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 17-August-2024
