Poor funding, political will bane of Nigeria’s boundary crises – NBC

The National Boundary Commission (NBC) has decried the lack of political will by state actors and poor funding by respective governments as the bane of the lingering boundary crises in the country.

The Director General of NBC, Surveyor Adamu Adaji, who stated this recently, said unless respective state actors in states having boundary conflicts commit to peaceful resolution of these conflicts it would be near impossible to resolve them.

He lamented that these actors have allowed selfish political interests rather than harmonious co- existence of the people most of whom had domiciled together for centuries with minimal incidences of conflicts to take up arms against themselves.

“Politics seems to be the major reason some conflicts have remained unresolved. The lack of political will by political actors and others with interest other than peace have tended to rob us of peaceful settlement of many lingering boundary crises.

“The second concern, l think, is inadequate funds for the commission to carry out its programmes, including awareness and sensitisation campaigns, demarcation of boundaries, especially in areas where crises have been resolved,” he said.

Further, Adaji said quest for resource control is another reason some boundary demarcations and adjustment have become issues of conflict.

He cited the examples of Kogi and Anambra, Akwa Ibom and Cross River, Bayelsa and Rivers, among other places where the desire to force the hands of the commission have been noticed.

He, therefore, implored all state actors to forego political consideration and allow peace a chance, adding that peaceful co-existence would necessarily ensure development for those living within the boundary corridors.