Reps stop plans to cede part of Adamawa to Cameroon

The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on International Boundary Dispute on Tuesday stopped plans by the Federal Government to cede Sina in Michika local government area of Adamawa State to the Republic of Cameroon.

The Chairman of the Committee, Beni Lar, gave the ruling an investigative hearing on the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary disputes in Abuja.

Lar said the demarcation of the boundary must be put on hold until the disputes were resolved.

The lawmaker added that the committee would visit Adamawa to get a comprehensive report on the matter.

She said: “We will recall that we did the first phase of this, similar to the DANARE-BIAJUA Axis of Cross River State, and as a fallout of that, the Speaker through a request by Hon. Dauda Nyampa included Sina area to the committee’s terms of reference.”

She said the committee had already notified Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of its fact-finding mission.

On his part, the Director-General of the National Boundary Commission (NBC), Adamu Adaji, said the demarcation was being carried out in line with the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

He said the sub-commission on demarcation had placed a total of 2, 214 pillars on the boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon.

The NBC chief said: “The Adamawa State sector of the boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon as decided by the International Court of Justice is based on treaties and agreements that had been entered into by colonial masters.

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“The courts upheld these treaties and agreements and ruled that they be used to re-establish the boundary. It is not a new boundary.

“It is a boundary that has been existing and there are documents that show the fact that these boundaries have been existing.

“What the court ruled was that go and use this document to re-establish the boundary as it has always been recognized.”

Nigeria and Cameroon have disputed over land and maritime boundaries, including Bakassi for some years, leading to considerable tension between the two countries.

On October 10, 2002, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague determined that Cameroon was the rightful owner of the peninsula.

In its ruling, the court requested Nigeria to withdraw without conditions its administration and military from the area of Lake Chad falling within Cameroonian sovereignty and from the Bakassi Peninsula.

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