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Internal Boundary Crisis :NBC Boss Pledges to Resolve
Issues for Economic Growth
The Director General of the National Boundary Commission NBC),
Surv. Adamu Adaji, has pledged his commitment to vigorously pursue
and resolve issues of internal boundary in a bid to restore lasting
peace and economic growth to the affected areas in line with the
federal government’s policy.
Surv. Adaji gave this pledge today at the Joint Meeting of
Officials on Abia/Akwa Ibom interstate boundary organised by the
NBC in Umuahia, the Abia state capital.
The meeting was convoked as part of efforts to resuscitate the
necessary fieldworks in the Abia/Akwa Ibom
boundary.
Speaking further, the NBC boss noted that all attempts to
resolve the issues in the past has yielded little or no effect
despite the decisions and resolutions reached in the past to
quickly define and demarcate the boundaries of the states by the
previous governments.
The Director General maintained that “when agreements on
programs are not promptly implemented within a time frame it could
portend grave dangers and lead to waste of government scarce
resources, time and energy as parties concerned may have to meet
again and again.
Adaji emphasized that the journey towards the demarcation of
Abia/Akwa Ibom interstate boundary started since 2013 and has
lingered on till date because of the of lack of will to follow
through, this he lamented has stalled fieldwork in the areas and in
turn affected the targeted date of completion adding that this has
further affected the boundary communities.
He therefore appealed to the different states governments to
adequately support the state boundary committees to enable their
states to actively participate in the exercise to facilitate the
definition and demarcation process.
In his remarks, the Deputy Governor and Chairman of the Abia
state Boundary Committee, Rt Hon. Sir Ude Chukwu who spoke on
behalf of the two states urged the NBC’s Director General to use
his wealth of knowledge to settle all the lingering boundary
disputes between Abia state and all its neighbouring states and
bring a lasting solution to the affected areas.
He noted that both states share common traditions but however
lamented that the differences of claims by some border communities
have tended to create tension between the sister states.
He therefore called on the affected border communities to
embrace peace and allow fieldworks to continue.
The deputy governor used the occasion to call on the federal
government to give adequate support to the NBC to enable it carry
out it statutory function whilst pledging the readiness of the two
states to support all the efforts of the National Boundary
Commission geared towards the quick settlement of all their
boundary issues.
Other participants at the event include the deputy governor of
Akwa Ibom state, Moses Ekpo, Surveyor General of the federation,
Surv. Taiwo Adeniron who was represented by the deputy director,
internal boundary Surv. Duniya Joseph.
Efe Ovuakporie
Head of Information