The Director-General of the National Boundary Commission (NBC), Adamu Adaji, has told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that vanished physical landmarks, competing claims and resistance from communities are preventing the completion of the Edo-Kogi interstate boundary demarcation.
Adaji said technical and administrative work produced an approved boundary line, which the commission’s Internal Boundary Committee endorsed, but the physical demarcation stalled when contractors met opposition on the ground. He said the impasse was largely the result of changes to the landscape since the boundary was defined in Legal Notice No. 126 of 1954.
According to Adaji, some features referenced in the 1954 notice have disappeared over time, forcing experts to rely on interpretation of historical documents and introducing subjective judgment into where the boundary should fall. “This has led the parties to continue laying claims in different areas,” he said in the interview.
The NBC boss said the dispute involves several axes, including Ogori-Ekpedo, Okene-Okpella and the Ake axis, and that the commission is also addressing farmland disagreements between communities in Ibaji (Kogi) and Uloshi/Esan South-East (Edo). He said the parties met earlier in the year to consider how the approved line could be established physically and to assess its implications.
Adaji told NAN that the agreement was later challenged when some stakeholders withheld full cooperation and submitted documents, including court judgments, that had not previously been presented to the commission. He said the NBC must examine those documents and engage the states to reach a common understanding.
On resources, Adaji said the commission has agreed to commence demarcation work only when funds are available. “We are still looking for the resources to undertake it. Where challenges arise, we will address them as we encounter them,” he said.
The NBC also reported progress on a separate dispute between Abia and Anambra states. Adaji said the Abia-Anambra boundary runs about 23 kilometres; the commission and the states have agreed on 15 kilometres, leaving roughly eight kilometres unresolved. He said communities along the remaining corridor have strong, competing claims and that the commission and the states met in July to support fieldwork to re-establish the disputed section.
Adaji said the Abia-Anambra exercise could initially produce two lines reflecting each state’s claim before a single definitive boundary is agreed. He urged communities and local institutions to cooperate with the commission and with State and Local Government Boundary Committees to avoid conflict and to safeguard the property rights of residents along boundary corridors.
He emphasised the administrative nature of boundaries and the need to protect residents’ rights regardless of which state ultimately administers an area. “Boundaries are primarily for administrative purposes. People can own properties across boundaries,” he told NAN.
Reports of Adaji’s interview were carried by Premium Times and The Punch, which attributed the material to the News Agency of Nigeria. For the full interviews see Premium Times and The Punch.
Featured image: Obibillion1 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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