The National Boundary Commission has taken steps to physically demarcate the Edo-Kogi inter-state boundary. Its director-general, Adamu Adaji, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday during a joint meeting of officials on the Edo-Kogi inter-state boundary.

Mr Adaji explained that the joint meeting was aimed at assessing the activities on the boundary to date and identifying the obstacles to the execution of the fieldwork.

This, according to him, will enable officials to chart a way forward for the physical demarcation of the boundary, which will be easily identifiable by the border communities.

“Accordingly, it will be demarcated with both primary and intermediate pillars that will be placed at specified intervals of two kilometres and 200m, respectively. Our conservative estimate puts the required primary pillars at about 100 in number, while the intermediate ones are about 900,” he said.

Mr Adaji pointed out that a peaceful boundary regime required collective efforts at the federal, state and local government levels. He expressed optimism that the meeting would produce far-reaching recommendations to fast-track and enhance the final demarcation of the boundary.

“The federal government, through the NBC, is desirous of executing all activities on the Edo/Kogi inter-state boundary to a logical conclusion. All efforts will be made to demarcate the boundary as soon as possible.

“We will interface appropriately with the states for support, if necessary, due to the paucity of funds available to the commission for that purpose,” he said.

The NBC director-general explained that the Edo-Kogi inter-state boundary was part of the boundaries between the former Northern and Western regions described in Legal Notice 126 of 1954.

Mr Adaji added that the challenge in defining the boundary had been correctly interpreting its description. He said that NBC’s interventions on the boundary had been a series of joint meetings among officials, as well as many technical meetings with experts at various times.

“The last of such interventions was the joint meeting of officials held in Benin City, Edo, in September 2011. The boundary was later physically traced on the ground and provisionally demarcated after which officials discussed the outcome and made recommendations on its alignment,” he said.

Deputy Governor Dennis Idahosa (of Edo) commended NBC for taking steps to address the lingering boundary dispute between the two states. Mr Idahosa, who is the chairman of the Edo boundary committee, assured NBC of the state’s commitment to ensuring the successful demarcation of the boundary.

Similarly, Deputy Governor Joel Salifu (of Kogi) hailed NBC’s efforts, urging it to set up an all-inclusive demarcation team to work out appropriate modalities for the smooth execution of the demarcation process. Mr Salifu said that the team should include representatives of traditional institutions alongside other stakeholders.

(NAN)