National Boundary Commission Takes Steps on Abia/Akwa-Ibom States Boundary Disputes

The National Boundary Commission in Nigeria following years of deadlock over attempts to resolve the lingering border disputes between Abia and Akwa Ibom States, has met with the governments of both states to review the status work and finalise discussions towards completing outstanding works on the boundary.

Director-General of the National Boundary Commission, Adamu Adaji, at the joint meeting of officials on the Abia/Akwa Ibom InterState Boundary in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital, said that the meeting would speed up the process of resolving pending boundary issues.

Mr Adaji noted that several attempts have been made in the past to demarcate the boundaries, he however revealed that not much results have been achieved.

He recounted some of the challenges including the non-clarity of some documents, deliberate efforts to misinterpret documents by stakeholders, failure to accept the documents, and lack of cooperation from both communities amongst others.

“Since taking over the boundary definition process, the Commission has carried out various inconclusive field tracing and provisional demarcation exercises on the boundary. The challenges have always been the dearth of clear delimitation instruments on the non-clarity of them where they exist. Other challenges include the deliberate efforts to misinterpret the documents by stakeholders or failure to accept them.”

The Director-General of the Commission advised that parties involved build on previous activities, stressing that the commitment from both State governments would bring systematic and tactical approaches and the Director-General further called for synergy in working with the documents as provided by the authorities.

Deputy Governor of Abia State who is also the State Boundary Commission Chairman, Engineer Ikechukwu Emetu, identified that both States have a harmonised cultural relationship and should not be having disputes over boundaries. He said cases involving boundary and land disputes between the local governments of Arochukwu (Abia)/Ini (Akwa-Ibom), Bende (Abia)/Ini (Akwa-Ibom), Isiala Ngwa (Abia)/ Obot Akara (Akwa-Ibom), Obingwa (Abia)/ Etima Ekpo (Akwa-Ibom), Ukwa East (Abia)/ Uruanya (Akwa-Ibom) communities in both States should be handled according to the documents they are subjected to.

“In all these boundary sectors, land dispute cases abound but at varying degrees. Some of the land dispute cases have been subjected to litigations and arbitrations before and after the colonial administration. We should apply these legal documents and evolve them in settling the land dispute matters.”

He urged the National Boundary Commission to work without biases and sentiments toward implementing agreements reached.

Deputy Governor of Akwa-Ibom State who is also the State Boundary Commission Chairman, Akon Eyakenyi, said the present administration under the leadership of Governor Umo Eno is committed to ensuring that the boundary disputes are resolved.

She added that with the right commitment and approach from the State governments, the political leaders, and the National Boundary Commission, there would be resolutions that would encourage peaceful co-existence among the communities involved.

Dominica Nwabufo