The Role of Natural Resources in Nigeria-Cameroun Border Dispute

Abstract

The paper examines the role of natural resources in Nigeria-Cameroun border dispute. Nigerian state administered the areas commonly known as Bakassi peninsula which falls along the borders between Nigeria and Cameroun for decades peacefully. However from 1991 the Cameroun government challenged the rights of Nigeria government over the peninsula which culminated in a suit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. Reflecting on archival materials and relevant documents analysed qualitatively using historical approach revealed that the dispute was driven largely by the availability of natural resources such as crude oil and sea products in the peninsula. The contestation of the ownership of the peninsula made the Cameroonians forces to terrorised Nigerians living in the area which drew the intervention of the Nigerian armed forces in a punitive mission to the peninsula and beyond from 198.1 Consequently, the government of Cameroun took the matter to ICJ for adjudication which ruled in favour of Cameroun relying largely on the 11 March 1913 and 29 April 1913Anglo-German colonial boundaries agreements. The paper posited that the contribution that the exploration of huge natural resources including crude oil deposit that the peninsula possess will do to the economy of both countries influenced the violent dimensions the dispute took including the formation of Bakassi Volunteer Force even after the case was taken to the ICJ.