NBC denies ceding eight LGAS, villages to Cameroon

The National Boundary Commission (NBC) has denied that it has ceded about eight local government areas and some communities in Cross River State to Cameroon in the on-going pillar reconstruction exercise along the Cameroon boundary.

A statement on Wednesday by Director Genera of NBC, Dr. Mohammed Ahmad, said neither the current nor the previous exercises undertaken by the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission(CNMC) have the effect of ceding any Nigerian community or territory to Cameroon.

Ahmad explained that the exercise is to "clearly demarcate the legally known and accepted boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon in Cross River, Benue and Taraba states."

According to the statement, "The demarcation exercise is aimed at the reconstruction of the boundary pillars, with the standard pillars approved by both countries, in accordance with the Anglo-German Boundary Agreement of 1913 as accepted by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment of October 10, 2002 for the benefit of the authorities and local populations."

He further explained that "the current exercise is boundary reestablishment of pillars by means of replacement of the existing Anglo-German Boundary pillars of 1913 with international standard pillars as agreed by both parties and the densification of the pillars at intervals of 100 or 500 metres as may be required along the established boundary."

To this end, he assured that no Nigerian territory or village is lost to Cameroon as a result of the exercise.

The NBC boss noted that adequate sensitisation of the communities involved were carried out in 2009 and 2013 before the commencement of the demarcation exercise, adding that the affected States, Local Government Areas and traditional authorities were actively involved in the exercise.

While assuring the communities, stakeholders and the general public that the National Boundary Commission would not shirk its responsibilities to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the statement advised Nigerians to avoid making uninformed and inflammatory statements on the matter and always seek clarifications on any related issue from the NBS.

It would be recalled that it has been reported in some of the national dailies that some communities from Biajua and Danare in Boki Local Government of Cross River State have been ceded to Cameroon in the on-going pillar reconstruction.