Boundary commission sets 2017 deadline to demarcate Ebonyi, Abia, C’River
Boundary commission sets 2017 deadline to demarcate Ebonyi, Abia, C’River boundaries
NAN-H-69
Dispute
By Kate Obande-Okewu/Funmi Adeyemi
Abuja, Jan. 27, 2016 (NAN) The National Boundaries Commission said it has concluded arrangement to demarcate the land boundaries between Ebonyi, Abia and Cross River states in 2017.
Dr Mohammed Ahmad, Director General of the commission told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that the peaceful resolution process was currently ongoing.
He said the completion of the exercise was part of the commission’s agenda in 2017.
According to him, the process of resolving boundary disputes usually takes years to be accomplished.
“There are so many boundary issues that we have been working on, but right now we are planning to go to Ebonyi to handle the one between Ebonyi, Abia and Ebonyi and cross river states.
“These are the ones we are attending to in the next few weeks but that is not to say we won’t handle the rest.
“We will attend to other boundary issues, but we are waiting for the budgeting process to be concluded,“ he said.
Ahmad explained that intervening and resolving a boundary quarrel takes a lot of process ranging from the first Joint Meeting of Officials (JMO) to the final stage where the report is presented to the Vice President and then the national assembly.
He added that the JMO is a platform that brings together members of the community, the state and the Federal Government for a dialogue to present and analyse the challenges.
He further said that documents and information are collated, authenticated and accepted before a boundary is finally demarcated.
According to him, most of the boundaries are from colonial era, as they are either boundaries of provinces of old divisions, districts or another state coming up out of older states.
He cited the south-eastern states as an example where states like Ebonyi, Abia, Imo, Anambra and Enugu sprang from.
The DG, however, said that a lot of successes have been recorded in resolving disputes over the years. (NAN)
KTE//FAK/ECN/AFA
Edited by Emmanuel Nwoye/Felix Ajide