Cross River govt restates claim of 76 disputed oil wells

 

 By Solomon Azu, Calabar

 The Cross River State government has restated its claim to the long-disputed 76 oil wells, describing recent assertions by the Akwa Ibom State Government as “misleading, historically inaccurate, and an attempt to suppress the truth.”

In a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information, Dr Erasmus Ekpang, the Cross River State government condemned the July 24 statement by Uko Udom, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Akwa Ibom State, regarding the oil well dispute, stating that it was riddled with “misrepresentations and outright falsehoods.”

“Ordinarily, the Cross River State government would refrain from litigating such a sensitive matter in the court of public opinion,” the statement noted. “However, the scale of misinformation being pushed by Akwa Ibom necessitates a factual and dignified response.”

According to the Cross River government, the root of the dispute dates back to the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, which ceded only the Southern portion of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. The Western part of Bakassi, it clarified, remained within Nigerian territory and under the jurisdiction of Cross River State. 


The implementation of the ICJ judgment through the 2008 Green Tree Agreement and the establishment of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission were meant to facilitate maritime boundary mapping. However, before this mapping exercise was concluded, the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) convened a retreat in Kano in August 2008. It was during this retreat that they controversially applied the “technical option” to reassign the 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom State.

Cross River State insists that it was excluded from the retreat, despite having no boundary dispute with Akwa Ibom before that date. The statement further pointed out that Akwa Ibom had previously advocated for the “historic title option” in a similar boundary dispute with Rivers State. This option was conveniently ignored in the case of Cross River.

The matter took a significant turn in March 2024 when Governor Bassey Otu was briefed that several oil wells in OMLs 114 and 123 were located within Cross River’s maritime boundaries, yet the state received no revenue from them.

The governor, acting promptly, petitioned RMAFC, leading to the constitution of an inter-agency committee comprising the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, the National Boundary Commission, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. Surveyors-General from Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Anambra, and other oil-producing states participated in the review as observers. 

In May 2024, the committee conducted a technical assessment using Nigeria’s 11th Edition Administrative Map and the 2004 Well Dichotomy Study Map. The outcome, according to the statement, was that 67 oil wells were found to lie within Cross River State’s maritime boundary. The government described this revelation as an “uncomfortable truth” that has long been suppressed, exposing the injustice the state has endured since the 2012 Supreme Court decision, which is now being used by Akwa Ibom to justify its claim.

Following the new findings, the Presidency has intervened in the matter and directed both states to engage in broad consultations, stakeholder engagements, and report back. However, the Cross River State government has expressed concern that Akwa Ibom’s posture, as reflected in the recent statement by its Attorney General, indicated an unwillingness to cooperate with the process outlined by the Federal Government.

<<CLICK/TAP HERE>>