Rivers State And Boundary Matters

The Boundary Committee has recently, succeeded in settling the lingering crisis that engulfed Better Land / Eddagberi Community of Ahoada-West Local Government Area using its Conflicts Resolution Machinery. For once the Rivers State Government was compelled to involve the law, peace proclaimation order, to calm the situation in Edagberi/Betterland.

What is perharps of great heart-warning is the effort of the Committee in ensuring the resolution of a protracted land disputes between Eleme Local Government Area and Okrika/Ogu-Boloo Local Government Areas. Presently, the committee has completed the first milestone of inspection survey and awaiting the surveyor’s technical report which would enable the commencement of monumentation.

Also, the commission is awaiting the report of the joint field inspection team which has completed its assignment on Ogbele and Agba-NdelejRumuekpe boundary dispute.

To address the minds of the people of the communities involved in boundary disputes in the state, the Committee approached the issues through the use of sensitization and enlightenment campaigns of which over twenty local government areas have already been covered in the first phase.

Worrisome perhaps, is that, although communities involved in boundary disputes expressed their desire and interest on the resolve of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi-led administration to liquidate every boundary dispute in the State during his tenure of office, some local government chairmen and community leaders have approached the matter with lackadaisical and uncooperative attitude. This attitude of the local leaders had creates some form of difficulty on the intention of the State Boundary Commission to complete its jobs on the boundary matters on schedule.

For Elder Gomba Osarollor, a former Commissioner in Rivers State and an indigene of Eleme Local Government Area and Tamunokuro Oba; a former Chairman of Okrika Local Government Area, early resolution of the boundary disputes between the three neighboring local government areas would be a welcome development and would enable them to return to the interactions that existed between them in the 1940s and early 1950s. Their free inter-ethnic marriages would return. A man who gave himself simply as Mr. George said: “Days were when their Eleme brothers would come to’ Okrika town and would stay, drinking pepper soup to 12 midnight before returning home”.

As averred at the beginning of this piece of work, land, grouping of people and settling them on portions of it is a mystery and, anybody or group of persons venturing into the resolution of conflicts arising from claims of ownership of land has an up-hill task; Boundary committee members were therefore asked to state the instruments that aided their easy determination of the boundaries and handling of boundary matters. Responses showed that Supreme Court judgments, Charles Grandville Report {in the case of ElemejOkrika,Ogu-Bolo boundary problems} and existing survey reports were used to facilitate their jobs.

In spite of this skirmishes, what has been so glaring in the findings on the responses of the various ethnic nations interacted with on this matter is their desire and willingness to stay together in unity, under a bond of love, free from rancor and acrimony. Getting these feelers from these communities, one wonders the seriousness in their verbal expressions when compared with their emotional and physical reactions when it comes to landed property issues.

In Rivers State, and methinks, in other states of Nigeria too, land boundary disputes are not limited to that which occur between states or local governments or between communities only. Cases abound when families of the same ethnic background fall out in a quest for protecting actual or claimed parcels of land.

We would therefore be tempted to believe that the problems arising from boundary disputes are endless. This calls for the need for the State Boundary Commission to further spread its tentacles to tackling family boundary disputes also. As it is a common-place experience, most family boundary cases had degenerated to becoming the headache of not only the larger communities but also that of the state or even the country. People had said that little drops of water collect to make a mighty ocean little family land disagreements can degenerate beyond our imagination.

For instance, that boundary dispute between Barako and Nwiebiara, if not nipped at the board, is capable of robbing off on the larger Gokana Local Government Area.

Again, the commission need not wait until the state is joined as co-defendants in boundary disputes between communities (as the case appears to be today) before defending communities in Rivers State which have boundary disputes with neighbouring communities.

For instance, Umuakali and Umuonyia communities in Rivers State which have land disputes with their neighbouring communities of Abia State needed to be seriously defended through the instrumentality of this commission.

Though the communities may not have, out of ignorance, involved the commission in their initial approaches to address the disputes or that their tricky Abia village neighbours may have intentionally refused to join the state government in their Suites against the communities, knowing the implications, yet, the state boundary commission needed to defend such territories because, if it does not, the state would loose much oil wells in those areas.

Enyin resides in Port Harcourt.

Friday Enyio