By Ali Elias
LAGOS — Calls for renewed efforts to address the consequences of Nigeria’s cession of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon resurfaced in Lagos on Monday, as stakeholders urged legal and strategic action to protect the interests of affected communities.
The issue came to the fore during the presentation of Uruan: The Oboku People of Geographical Southeastern Nigeria and Their Bakassi Economic Zone, authored by renowned economist and public policy analyst, Mr Efiong Akan.
Akan, a former Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), challenged legal practitioners from the Iboku ethnic group in Akwa Ibom State to explore avenues for redress, arguing that communities living in the ceded territory have endured years of hardship since Nigeria handed over Bakassi to Cameroon following the 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“The people who caused the problem—Britain, France and Germany—were judges in their own case. We must get Bakassi back,” Akan said.
According to him, the Iboku people, whose traditional livelihood revolves around fishing, historically occupied settlements across the Bakassi area. He alleged that many residents remaining in the territory have faced restrictions on movement and economic activities under Cameroonian administration.
Reviewing the book, Chairman of the National Pension Commission, Dr Opeyemi Agbaje, said that while the Bakassi dispute is widely viewed as settled from diplomatic and economic perspectives, opportunities for redress may still exist if pursued through a carefully coordinated long-term strategy.
“If the people desire the return of the territory, they must develop a comprehensive political, economic, social and even religious framework to pursue that objective,” Agbaje said, adding that history has shown that seemingly settled issues can evolve over time.
Also speaking, retired Rear Admiral Francis Dan Akpan, a former defence adviser to South Africa, criticised the circumstances surrounding the judgment, arguing that the interests and sentiments of the indigenous population were not adequately considered.
He attributed the loss of Bakassi partly to Nigeria’s failure to clearly define and protect its strategic interests.
Beyond revisiting the Bakassi dispute, the book traces the history, migration patterns and cultural heritage of the Iboku people, while examining traditional institutions, spirituality and the impact of Christianity on the Uruan community.
The event attracted prominent personalities, including former Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Udo Udoma; business leader Obong Larry Ettah; advertising executive Sir Udeme Ufot; and former ADC Airlines Managing Director, Captain Augustine Okon.
Nigeria formally transferred Bakassi to Cameroon in 2008 following the implementation of the ICJ judgment, ending decades of territorial dispute but leaving lingering concerns among many residents and descendants of communities with ancestral ties to the peninsula.