A coalition of 46 civil society organisations, under the platform of the Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness (CCLCA) has alleged that Nigeria may have lost about 780 hectares of maritime waters within the Cross River estuary due to corruption and administrative lapses.
The coalition on Thursday in Abuja, called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately establish a presidential special investigation panel to probe the circumstances surrounding the alleged loss.
Director-General of the Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness, Gabriel Nwambu, disclosed this while presenting the recommendations contained in a communiqué issued after a fact-finding mission on the maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Guinea.
Nwambu explained that the coalition, working in collaboration with 12 frontline rights organisations, carried out a detailed investigation into the maritime boundaries of the Gulf of Guinea and the “mouth of water” delineations between Nigeria and Cameroon.
According to him, the investigation uncovered critical information relating to ownership issues affecting the maritime boundary between Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
“Our coalition undertook a rigorous, expert-led fact-finding mission into the maritime boundaries of the Gulf of Guinea and the ‘mouth of water’ delineations between Nigeria and Cameroon,” he said.
He added that the dialogue brought together 46 civil society organisations to examine the findings and develop a sustainable roadmap aimed at promoting regional peace and administrative clarity.
The coalition subsequently presented a seven-point recommendation to President Tinubu.
Among the recommendations is an immediate presidential review of the 2024 and 2025 inter-agency committee reports on oil well verification and derivation allocations affecting Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
They also called for the proper demarcation of the Nigeria–Cameroon maritime boundary within the Cross River maritime corridor in line with the ruling of the International Court of Justice in the 2002 ICJ judgment on the Bakassi Peninsula dispute.
Other recommendations include the establishment of a Presidential Special Investigation Panel to examine the alleged loss of the maritime territory, a forensic audit of revenues and derivation payments linked to the Ekanga and Zafiro transboundary oil fields, and an investigation into the alleged unilateral approval of ₦33 billion from the Federation Account without presidential authorization.
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The coalition further urged the federal government to begin urgent diplomatic engagement with Cameroon to negotiate transboundary reservoir development agreements for the 49 identified reservoir continuity wells within Oil Mining Lease (OML) 114.
In addition, the group called for the restoration and recognition of Cross River State’s littoral status based on the geographic and legal standing of the Cross River.
Speaking earlier, one of the investigators, Sam Amadi, described the findings from the investigative tour as “mind-boggling,” stressing the need for the Federal Government to constitute an independent panel to probe the long-standing boundary and oil well dispute between Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.
“Our findings revealed that Cross River is indeed a littoral state that has been grossly marginalised,” Amadi said.
The CSOs maintained that a thorough investigation and proper boundary clarification are necessary to prevent further loss of Nigeria’s maritime resources and to ensure fairness in derivation allocations among affected states.
