The National Boundary Commission (NBC) says it has commenced physical boundary demarcation of resolved sections of Gombe-Bauchi and Enugu-Ebonyi States.
Mr Adamu Adaji, the Director-General, NBC made this known when he appeared at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Abuja.
Adaji said that the commission strived to give issues of physical definition and demarcation of boundaries more priority.
We have demarcated portions of Gombe and Bauchi states, we will continue the physical demarcation; we have also commenced the physical demarcation of Enugu-Ebonyi and placement of pillars.
“We have also gone to place some pillars in Benue-Cross River, before some communities in Benue obstructed the work.
“And, we have to call it off; we have written to the state governments and appealed for them to sensitise the communities to enable us to go back,” he said.
Adaji said that the physical demarcation of these boundaries were quite paramount because claims and counter claims of encroachment and non-encroachment could arise because the boundaries were not very visible.
According to him, people can cross the boundary without knowing and that brings tension.
He said that the commission was focused on ensuring that any boundary it resolved, must be properly defined and visible in the form of demarcation.
He said recently there was a meeting on the boundary between Kastina and Jigawa, which has equally been resolved and now “has a single line, but awaiting demarcation soon’’.
In the same vain, he said that the boundary between Kano and Kastina had also been resolved, presently had a single line.
“So all these boundaries that we have resolved which have single lines will now be demarcated.
“The outcome of our field exercises will show in some cases two or three lines but when we have a single line it, means the two states agreed with the instruments we used.
“Sometimes the two states differ with the instruments we used or may align and have a single line different from the instruments we try to interpret.
“Some of these instruments are vague and ambiguous and in such cases we try to see how we can balance that.
“Anywhere we have agreements, I have commenced the process of getting it physically defined on ground, I have done few of them and intend to continue in that line,” he said.
Adaji, who is a surveyor by profession, said over the years, there could be agreement for the commission to demarcate but for one reason or the other it might not be able to do it.
The demarcation can be prolonged for five to 10 years, resulting to a fresh start each time it is visited because the gains we had before were lost due to non-intervention,’’ he said.
He said that the Federal Government was quite responsive to its needs in terms of finances to carry out its function but what it required now was the cooperation of the states to be proactive in interventions,” he said. (NAN)