22/04/2026
CROSS RIVER –AKWA IBOM OIL WELLS DISPUTE AND THE RECOGNITION OF WESTERN BAKASSI ISLANDS:
MAKING A CASE FOR LEGISLATIVE COLLABORATION AND RESOLUTION.
The lingering dispute between Cross River State and its sister state, Akwa Ibom, over maritime boundaries and oil wells remains one of Nigeria’s most delicate subnational tensions.
More than two decades after the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment ceded the southern Bakassi Peninsula—including Atabong, Archibong Town, Akwabana, and the Akwayafe Estuary to Cameroon, critical questions surrounding the western Bakassi axis and associated oil assets remain unresolved.
While the ICJ judgment ceded portions of Bakassi, it unequivocally retained the western Bakassi islands—Dayspring 1 and 2, Qua Island, Western Abana, and crucially, the Cross River Estuary within Nigeria’s sovereign territory.
This distinction is not merely cartographic; it is strategic, economic, and geopolitical.
The delineation of boundaries using two median lines an East Point median line that ceded southern Bakassi and a West Point median line that preserved western Bakassi was deliberate and significant.
The West Point alignment ensured Nigeria retained access to a vital international navigation corridor through the Cross River Estuary. This channel holds strategic value comparable, in functional terms, to globally critical maritime routes, serving as a gateway for trade and economic activity in the Gulf of Guinea.
Regrettably, the failure of the National Boundary Commission and the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation to properly demarcate this ICJ-sanctioned boundary remains a national embarrassment.
Rather than implementing the ICJ’s Map No. 12 in full, the 2008 boundary exercise diverted focus inward, redrawing baselines within the unceded western Bakassi region.
This exercise controversially reassigned 76 oil wells previously attributed to Cross River State to Akwa Ibom.
More troubling is that the 2008 mapping exercise failed to define the full extent of Nigeria’s international maritime boundary as awarded by the ICJ.
In doing so, it effectively ceded approximately 780 hectares of maritime territory within the Cross River Estuary corridor, stretching toward the maritime alignment with Cameroon at the Akwayafe River.
This represents not only a technical lapse but a strategic misstep with long-term economic implications.
Today, the dispute has expanded, with over 238 oil wells now at the center of renewed contention.
Yet, this moment also presents an opportunity for statesmanship, collaboration, and legislative leadership.
This is why a coordinated legislative intervention is both timely and necessary.
The Houses of Assembly of Cross River and Akwa Ibom States, alongside members of the National Assembly, must rise above parochial interests and work toward a structured, equitable resolution.
Nigeria is fortunate to have the current Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, a statesman with deep historical and political ties to the old Cross River State.
His leadership presents a unique opportunity to convene a legislative convergence capable of resolving this dispute. With experienced figures such as former Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba and other stakeholders, the institutional memory and capacity for resolution are readily available.
Encouragingly, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has already advised both states to pursue an amicable settlement under the Senate President’s leadership. Reports indicate that multiple high-level meetings have taken place. What is now required is the political will to translate dialogue into durable outcomes.
The pathway forward must be anchored on a win-win framework one that ensures no victor and no vanquished. Akwa Ibom State need not lose its existing oil assets, while Cross River State must be rightfully restored to its status as an oil-producing state, a designation it effectively lost following the 2008 adjustments.
Beyond oil, the destinies of both states are deeply intertwined. Their economies are linked by land and maritime trade corridors, shared cultural heritage, and ecological systems. Continued delay in resolving this dispute risks fostering a fragile peace what may be described as “the peace of the graveside” which could, over time, deteriorate into avoidable conflict.
Nigeria has only eight coastal states, and Cross River and Akwa Ibom are foremost among them. Their geographic and geological realities are shaped by the Cross River Basin, the Calabar River, the Great Kwa River, and their collective discharge into the Atlantic Ocean.
These are natural phenomena beyond legal reinterpretation.
Similarly, the Calabar Channel and the elongated continental shelf are products of science and geography, not political convenience. Both states are beneficiaries of these natural endowments and must collaborate to harness the immense potential of the blue economy.
This is, therefore, a clarion call to both state legislatures and the National Assembly: the time to act is now.
Through cooperation, foresight, and courage, this dispute can be transformed from a source of division into a model of intergovernmental resolution.
If we succeed, we will not only secure economic prosperity for our people but also etch our names in gold in the annals of history.
To my colleagues in the Cross River and Akwa Ibom Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly, I say: the time to act is now. I rest my case.
Hon. Cyril James Omini
Member Representing Yakurr 1, Cross River State House of Assembly
