International Law, Boundary Dispute and Territorial Redistribution between Nigeria and Cameroon on Bakassi Peninsula: Limits and Possibilities for Nigeria

Abstract

The Bakassi Peninsula was a disputed piece of territory between Nigeria and Cameroon for decades and the source of several conflicts in 1981 and the early 1990s. The availability of potential oil reserves in the Peninsula intensified tensions between the two countries. The International Court of Justice decides on October 10, 2002 that the Peninsula and territory in the Lake Chad region should be under sovereignty of Cameroon. Nigeria pull out of the areas and was ceded to Cameroon august 14^th 2008. It has given up 32 villages along the 1,700 km border from Lake Chad to the Gulf of Guinea. This border dispute gives rise to various issues such as citizenship of the thousands of Nigerians in Peninsula. (Price Felicia 2005)