Fed Govt Reaffirms Commitment To Final Demarcation Of Edo-Kogi Boundary

The federal government has reaffirmed its commitment to bringing the long-running Edo-Kogi interstate boundary demarcation to a logical conclusion.

The director-general of the National Boundary Commission (NBC), Adamu A. Adaji, stated this yesterday during a joint meeting of officials on the Edo/Kogi interstate boundary in Abuja.

The meeting brought together senior government officials, technical experts and traditional stakeholders from the two states.

In his address, Adaji expressed appreciation to the governments and people of both states for their patience and cooperation over the years, noting that the boundary definition process had been prolonged by historical, technical and security challenges.

He explained that the Edo-Kogi boundary originated from the boundary between the former Northern and Western Regions as described in Legal Notice 126 of 1954. According to him, the major difficulty over the years had been the interpretation of the boundary description contained in the legal instrument.

According to him, the commission had intervened several times through joint meetings and technical engagements, with the last major joint meeting of officials held in Benin City in September 2011.

“Some of the challenges that have hampered the proper and quick definition of boundaries are a lack of proper sensitisation by the states, activities of some elite/traditional institutions, inadequate funds, wrong perception of boundaries and control of natural resources straddling the boundaries.

“Today’s Joint Meeting of Officials (JMO) is principally to assess the activities on the boundary so far and identify the obstacles that militated against the execution of the fieldwork and chart a way forward towards the physical demarcation of the boundary.

“The boundary is to be demarcated in such a way that it will be easily identifiable by the border communities. Accordingly, it will be demarcated with both primary and intermediate pillars that will be placed at specified intervals of 2km and 200m, respectively. Our conservative estimate puts the required primary pillars at about 100 in number, while the intermediate ones are about 900,” he said.

Adaji appealed to the governments of Edo and Kogi States, traditional rulers, and other stakeholders to maintain peace and cooperation, stressing that a peaceful boundary regime required collective effort at the federal, state, and local government levels.

Also, the deputy governor of Edo State, Dennis Idahosa, commended the NBC for convening the meeting and reaffirmed the state’s commitment to the successful monumentation of the boundary.

He assured that the state was ready to partner fully with the NBC and other stakeholders to ensure the completion of the exercise.

On his part, the deputy governor of Kogi State and chairman of the Kogi State Boundary Committee, Joel Salifu, commended the renewed engagement and urged the NBC and the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation to revisit the grey areas, particularly in contentious zones such as Ogori-Ekpedo, Okene-Okpella and Ake Island, to secure the cooperation of border communities.