LOSS OF BAKASSI PENISULA:THE ROUGH ANTECEDENTS

I watched it live on my afforded cable transmission on 14th August 2008 as the federal minister of Justice Hon. Andoakaa exchanged a signed document with the Cameroon defence minister. I also observed simultaneously as flags were exchanged. Then I mumbled to myself that it has finally happened, the oil rich Bakassi is gone. Nigeria no longer have access to that special area of land almost surrounded by sea and projecting far into the sea. Several citizens of Nigeria believed the international court of justice (ICJ) ruling of Oct 10, 2002 should be reversed which may eventually end up in not really ceding the oil rich region to Cameroon.
What most people that suggested this do not know is that the reversion of the judgments would have serious implications on Nigeria. We will be definitely be seen as international outcast. This is because we are part of the United Nations system and besides, we have submitted to the jurisdiction of the ICJ. Hence we are bound by its verdict, which is very clear that Bakassi peninsula belong to Cameroon. Very vital to be considered also is our government in Nigeria especially the present administration headed by Alhaji Umaru Musa Yaradua has a very stern respect for the rule of law. His unflinching believe in it as the springboard of true democracy, which I must commend, made Nigeria achieved this feat of boundary dispute resolution without even a gunshot! This has really set a record for our great father land globally.
The painful aspect of the process however, is the oil revenue that will be forfeited. Nigeria economy since the oil boom in early 1960s is solely dependent on revenues generated from oil export. Nigerian government should be more parsimonious in budgeting because the revenue generated from oil in the Bakassi region is gone; in the same vein, dare devil militants in the Niger delta are constantly making sieve out of pipes and installations, which is also taking its toll on the nation’s economy. Had it been our past leaders had premonition of what will happened on 14th August 2008, the then military head of state General Gowon would not have allegedly signed out Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon as a gesture of gratitude for not allowing war materials to filtrate through Cameroon to Biafrans in eastern Nigeria during the Nigeria/Biafra civil war of 1967-1970. The agreement they called Morua declaration! May be the government would have been a better necromancer!
In conclusion, mistakes they say have power to correct our past in the present, and they fail in their bid to do so when they are blamed on someone else. The question still remains rhetorically that; how can Nigeria make up for the oil revenue lost from the Bakassi peninsula in this unpredictable international oil market?

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