National Boundary Commission (NBC) has taken steps to physically demarcate the Edo and Kogi inter-state boundary.
Director-General of the commission, Mr Adamu Adajo, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday during a joint meeting of officials on the Edo-Kogi inter-state boundary.
Adajo explained that the joint meeting was aimed at assessing the activities on the boundary so far and identifing the obstacles militating against the execution of the fieldwork.
This, according to him, will enable the officials to chart a way forward on the physical demarcation of the boundary that 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.
Adajo pointed out that a peaceful boundary regime required collective efforts at the federal, state and local government levels.
He expressed the optimism that the meeting would come up with far-reaching recommendations that would fast track and enhance the final demarcation process on the boundary.
“The Federal Government, through the NBC, is desirous of executing all activities on the Edo/Kogi inter-state boundary to a logical conclusion. All efforts will be made to demarcate the boundary as soon as possible.
“We will interface appropriately with the states for support, if necessary, due to the paucity of funds available to the commission for that purpose,” he said.
The director-general explained that the Edo-Kogi inter-state boundary was part of the boundaries between the former Northern and Western regions described in the Legal Notice 126 of 1954.
He added that the challenge in the definition of the boundary had been the correct interpretation of the description of the boundary.
He said that NBC’s interventions on the boundary had been a series of joint meetings of the officials as well as many technical meetings of experts at various times.
“The last of such interventions was the joint meeting of officials held in Benin City, Edo, in September 2011.
“The boundary was later physically traced on the ground and provisionally demarcated after which officials discussed the outcome and made recommendations on its alignment,” he said.
Adajo recalled that on Feb. 28, the Internal Boundaries Technical Committee of the commission met and deliberated on the recommendations.
He stated that the committee considered the report of the fieldwork on the boundary and approved the alignment of the inter-state boundary, as recommended by NBC.
The director-general also identified some of the challenges that had hampered the proper and quick definition of boundaries as lack of proper sensitisation by states as well as activities of some elites and traditional institutions.
Others, he said, were inadequate funds, wrong perception of boundaries and control of natural resources straddling the boundaries.
He appealed to the two states, the relevant traditional rulers and all other affected stakeholders to maintain the spirit of brotherhood and peaceful coexistence to enable the commission to demarcate the boundary.
In his remarks, the Deputy Governor of Edo, Mr Dennis Idahosa, commended NBC for taking steps to address the lingering boundary dispute between the two states.
Idahosa, who is the Chairman of his state’s Boundary Committee, assured NBC of the state’s commitment to ensuring successful demarcation of the boundary.
Similarly, the Deputy Governor of Kogi, Mr Joel Salifu, commended NBC’s efforts, urging it to set up an all-inclusive demarcation team to work out appropriate modalities for the smooth execution of the demarcation process.
Salifu said that the team should include representatives of traditional institutions alongside other stakeholders.