.’We’re delineating Nigeria’s maritime boundaries to maximise benefits’
The National Boundary Commission (NBC) says it has commenced the demarcation of interstate boundaries that have been resolved and defined in the last two years.
The Director-General of the commission, Mr Adamu Adaji, stated this on Sunday in Abuja, while assessing the impact of President Bola Tinubu’s administration after two years in office.
Adaji told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the progress was made possible following the support of the Tinubu-led administration in the last two years.
“We have commenced the demarcation of some boundaries.
“This is because, if the boundaries are not properly demarcated for it to be recognised easily on the ground, you can’t say you have resolved the boundary dispute.
“So, we have commenced the process of demarcating some of the boundaries that have been resolved.
“We have demarcated Katsina-Jigawa boundary; we have commenced the demarcation of Ebuen boundary between Edo and Enugu states and made some demarcation exercises on a few other boundaries.
“We have also demarcated the boundaries of FCT and its neighbours substantially,” he said.
Adaji added that the commission had also improved in the resolution of some aspects of some internal boundaries that require intervention.
He assured that the commission would continue with the demarcation exercises.
Adaji said, before now, more emphasis was on the resolution of contested boundaries with little efforts on demarcation.
He added that the non demarcation of some resolved boundaries have led to some instances of encroachment.
“For the problems to be curtailed, they need to be demarcated, and we have strategised in such a way that we demarcate these boundaries as we make progress.
“We don’t wait until the entire boundary is defined before we demarcate. Once any sector is resolved, we try to commence the demarcation,” he said.
He identified lack of political will on the part of some of the neighbouring local governments, states and neighbouring countries as one of the serious challenges affecting boundary demarcation efforts.
The NBC boss, however, said that the commission had been empowered bythe President Tinubu administration to make a better impact in resolving and demarcating some of the disputed boundaries.
Meanwhile, the National Boundary Commission (NBC) says it is delineating Nigeria’s maritime boundaries with its neighbours to maximise the country’s growing blue economy.
The NBC Director-General, Mr Adamu Adaji, stated this on Sunday in Abuja, while assessing the impact of President Bola Tinubu’s administration after two years in office.
Adaji said that the commission had made progress in delineating Nigeria’s maritime boundaries with Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Benin Republic and Ghana.
“For Ghana, there has been some stalemate in terms of our efforts to define the boundary, but we’ve gotten them back on track and we are making progress.
“We have plans to meet to continue the progress this year to make sure that we define the boundaries.
“For the maritime boundary between us and Equatorial Guinea, we’re also managing it properly.
“We also have plans, this year, to continue with the discussions towards defining the remaining aspect – the remaining length of the boundary that is still outstanding, about three nautical miles,” he said.
Adaji said that the effort was to make sure that Nigeria’s maritime territories were well defined, secured and protected.
He added that in line with the promotion of the blue economy, the resources in the affected maritime boundaries would be defined for proper management.
Speaking on Nigeria’s extended continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles by the UN, the D-G said that the government would soon roll out plans to harness its resources.
He also disclosed the possibility of Nigeria getting an additional extension of the continental shelf.
“After getting more, the government will now commence processes of trying to see how they can maximize all the benefits.
“This is because that area is an area where we have resources that can benefit the country. For example, we have minerals like hydrocarbons and metallic modules that can be of benefit to the country.
“There are other resources, which by the time we start exploration, they will be of great benefit to the country,” he said.
Speaking on securing the maritime boundaries, Adaji said that a committee had been set up under the Ministry of Defence along with Nigeria’s neighbours to provide adequate security for the maritime sector.
Stressing the need for the combined efforts, the D-G said “we are working closely with our neighbours to make sure that we jointly patrol the area and ensure maximum security for the maritime sector.
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