NBC seeks States, LG cooperation on boundary management

The National Boundary Commission (NBC) has called for stronger cooperation from the States and Local Governments to strengthen interstate boundary management in the country.Mr Adamu Adaji, the Director-General of the commission, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday .Adaji particularly stressed the need to prioritise the establishment of functional state and local governments' boundary committees.He explained that the National Boundary Commissions Act, 2006 provided for the establishment of a boundary commission at the federal level, State Boundary Committee at the state level and Local Government Boundary Committee at local level.He said that the three tiers of boundary management structure were supposed to work as a system to be able to drive the process of boundary management.He noted the deficiencies in the constitution of functional boundary committees at the state and local government levels.This, according to him, is partly responsible for the slow pace of progress in addressing boundary disputes and strengthening boundary management.'For the state boundary committees, we can say about half of the 36 states have constituted, but not much has been achieved at the local government level.'With the engagements we are making with the states now, we're beginning to underscore the importance of constituting a functional local boundary committee.'This is because, for every boundary issue, a committee is involved and that committee can be identified as a component of a particular local government before it gets to a state,' Adaji said.The D-G said that the local boundary committee, if constituted, would handle boundary issues at the local government level, assemble necessary facts, documents, community positions and transmit to the State Boundary committee.He further said: 'The State Boundary Committee will now aggregate the submissions from the local governments to establish a state position.'This is so because, for any interstate boundary issue, there may be many local boundary committees that are involved.'So, if the local government boundary committees are properly structured and made functional, they will contribute towards enhancing the positions of the states vis-à-vis the submissions to the national boundary commission.'This will at least ensure collective management and resolution of interstate boundary disputes.'Source: News Agency of Nigeria