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| Senate president of nigeria |
The Cross River State Businessmen’s Forum has rejected the reported description of Cross River State as a landlocked state by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, insisting that the state has a maritime connection to the Atlantic Ocean.
The forum, made up of businessmen and traders in Cross River State and the diaspora, said the description was inconsistent with its understanding of the state’s geographical and maritime position.
In a statement issued in Calabar on Friday and signed by its President, High Chief Dr Henry Onwe, the group called for the issue to be determined through scientific, geographical and legal evidence by the relevant federal authorities.
The forum maintained that Cross River should be regarded as a littoral state and cited several features it said supported its position, including the Cross River estuary and the presence of the Eastern Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy in Calabar.
It also referred to the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport and recent hydrographic and geophysical studies, which it said provided additional information relevant to the state’s maritime claim.
The group further claimed that technical mapping connected to the proposed seaport identified oil wellheads within areas it described as part of Cross River’s territorial coastal boundaries.
The forum therefore called for further assessment of the state’s littoral status by relevant federal institutions.
It also disputed what it described as interpretations of a 2012 Supreme Court judgment concerning Cross River’s claim to derivation revenue from 76 offshore oil wells following the transfer of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
According to the businessmen, the judgment concerned a legal and administrative dispute over the oil wells and should not automatically be interpreted as eliminating Cross River’s geographical connection to the sea.
The group said ongoing assessments by federal agencies, including the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), should be allowed to proceed.
It expressed concern that public comments on the matter could influence ongoing administrative or technical processes and called for the issue to be handled on the basis of established evidence.
The forum said Cross River’s maritime status should ultimately be determined through official federal records, geographical information, hydrographic surveys and applicable laws.
It also urged the media, investors and other stakeholders to consider available scientific and official records when assessing the issue.
The dispute is connected to Cross River’s longstanding claims relating to its maritime status and offshore oil resources following the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary dispute and the transfer of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
Cross River has continued to seek recognition of its maritime claims, while questions surrounding the legal and administrative implications of earlier boundary decisions remain part of the ongoing debate.